I've flown with Qatar Airways before.  Their in-flight meals were of above average standard.  They can put that in their next advert, if they like.

Bribe Ricky for a few dates too. Tell him its a Rutles reunion, whatever it takes.

If only.  I'm going to see the "reunited" Rutles in April, but to the best of my knowledge it's only going to be Nasty and Barry.

Completely agree about the fade to Surf's Up. Never liked it. I think it'd be better to just fade out after the verse parts are sung as well. The "Na Na" lyrics are pretty bad to my ears and I hate how they and the recycled Child vocals are all you hear for a good couple seconds. Really leaves that song on a sour note, imo.

Wah.  I generally have a lot of time for you and your madcap obsessions and theories, Mujan, but the playout of "Surf's Up" is possibly my favourite thing in the whole of musical history, and so, for all that you'll care, I'm afraid that you are now dead to me.

A historian, there, trying to get a historical figure banned from the discourse.

Mohh, I hope there aren't any actual Italians reading this.

This was a lot of fun and thanks to Brian and the mods for making it happen.  But let's not lose momentum now: the campaign for a Mike Love Q&A session must surely start today!

F sharp seventh is my favorite chord.

This is my favourite answer so far.

Hi Brian,

Thanks for doing this, and for everything.

Jason Fine wrote an article for Rolling Stone in 2013 that mentioned a song that you were working on with Jeff Beck and Al Jardine.  He wrote:

"The most exciting track features Beck picking a 12-string electric guitar over a haunting "ooh-na-na" vocal line from Jardine, bathed in layers of Wilson's vocal harmonies. It may be the spookiest song he's ever recorded."

This sounds excellent.  Was it ever finished, and will we ever get to hear it?

Thanks!
Theydon Bois

I personally do think it takes a certain amount of bravery to release something that you know is going to be vilified regardless of its quality by a certain percentage

If he's that brave, he should make his solo albums available for download.

I love MIU!

The "U" in MIU stands for underrated.

And "MI" stands for mostly isn't.

It says he'll be assisted by James S. Hirsch.

... whose book about Rubin "Hurricane" Carter contends that its subject was innocent of all charges levelled against him.  I wonder if this will prove some sort of precedent.

I haven't been joining in with this game but I wanted briefly to interject to say that the Bonzo Dog Band are every bit as important to me as the Beach Boys and that "Humanoid Boogie" is actually sort of fantastic in its own way.  Thanks.

But the presence of the interesting rarity "Your Summer Coupe" makes up for it.

Parks says: "SIP?  Pissy-ass krap!"

Apologies for introducing the hare of The Negron Incident into this thread. In an attempt to lay it, here is exactly what he claims, in his book:

"It all came to a head...when Mike Love, Carl Wilson and Al Jardine came to the studio and heard our version of 'Time To Get Alone'...They manoeuvred Brian into the control booth and reduced him to tears. It was a cruel and pathetic scene. Danny, Cory and I were in the studio and could see it all happening through the control-booth window. It was as if Brian had turned into a little boy. The conversation appeared quiet and calm, but we could tell it was emotional and intense. The others were doing most of the talking, like overbearing, controlling parents. Brian would move away, and they would block his escape. We couldn't hear what was being said, but I think a good lip-reader would have picked up something like, 'We don't give a sh*t about these guys, and we want those songs for us.' We could actually feel Brian crumbling, and when he came out of the booth, a tear dropped down his cheek. His head was lowered and his shoulders sagged. It was the body language of a child who had just been scolded and punished. And this brilliant musical icon - whose songs defined one generation and influenced another - weepingly told us, 'We can't do this. I have to give the songs to them. They're family and I have to take care of my family. They want the songs. I'll give you any amount of money you want to finish an album, but I can't produce it. They won't let me.'"

Salient points:

1 - he claims Alan was there too. Hutton doesn't mention him in any interview he's given.

2 - although he admits they couldn't hear through the booth window, nonetheless he tells us what he thought was being said.

3 - he claims Brian was weeping. Hutton has never said a word about this. In fact, and as ever I stand to be corrected, I don't believe Hutton ever claimed to witness this event but rather was told by Mike what was happening. If this is so (with the preceding caveat), then Negron claiming Danny also witnessed Brian being "scolded and punished" is, at best, an error.

4 - as has recently and pertinently been pointed out, at that time the original incarnation of Brother Records was still (tentatively) in existence and other artists begin considered, thus Brian's tearful speech goes 180 degrees against the company ethos.

5 - surely Carl, of all people, would have said to Redwood, "would you mind leaving the studio for a few minutes, we need to talk with Brian in private".

6 - he contradicts himself: "It was a cruel and pathetic scene" but yet "The conversation appeared quiet and calm"... "We couldn't hear what was being said, but I think a good lip-reader would have picked up something like, 'We don't give a sh*t about these guys, and we want those songs for us". Or maybe they wouldn't.

Apologies also for reading the original posting and assuming everyone thought the same way I did, that is "oh yeah, that's where Chuck claims they reduced Brian to tears, never happened", but only posting the last part: my entire and absolute bad. That this claim appears first in Negron's book and not at any time during the intervening 30-odd years is surely significant.

Now... what about "Sunflower Maiden" ?

Thank you for posting the actual quote from Negron.  While there's certainly speculation in it (especially the "good lip-reader" quote, which I can understand your objection to), I think that some of your other complaints here amount to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  Especially your suggestion that Negron somehow contradicts himself with "It was a cruel and pathetic scene" versus "The conversation appeared quiet and calm".  Surely anyone with any experience of passive-aggressive behaviour can confirm that it's possible to be quiet, calm, cruel and pathetic all at the same time?

(If you don't believe me, PM me your home address and I'll come round and be quietly cruel to you for an afternoon.)

And you know what? I wish Al would just do that. His solo stuff (well...the one solo album he has   ) just leans too much on the Beach Boys crutch, you know what I mean? I'd love him to do an album, or even a concert at an intimate venue, in which he just completely geeks out on folk stuff. I'd love to hear what he would do with that.

I couldn't agree more.  A folk-oriented album, in a stripped-down, rootsy, organic style, with a sympathetic producer on board (one who actually forces Al to finish the damn thing rather than fiddle with it forever), showcasing performances that have the benefits of both Al's veteran experience and his surprisingly sprightly pipes.  Such a thing could quite plausibly win critical acclaim, not to mention possible attention from some quarters not normally drawn towards Beach Boys-related products.

(It still wouldn't be a hit though.  Let's keep things in perspective, it would still be an Al Jardine solo album.)

And again, I'm genuinely asking this: What part of anything I had written concerning the Redwood story with Brian is in question, or which part of the story in general is in question? If what was laid out in this thread is being challenged or labeled apocryphal, I think it's only fair to offer something additional to back up the challenge.

I think that maybe it's a case of 'Just because Brian said it to Ray, doesn't mean that it actually happened'. Hasn't Brian been known to sort of, uh, go back and 'change his tune' on things to fit the accepted story lines? The whole SMiLE thing comes to mind; for 30 years it was because it was 'inappropriate music', and then suddenly when BWPS comes out with DVD, Brian says that the big reason that it didn't come out was 'Mike didn't like it'.

I'm not sure that the demise of Smile is necessarily the best choice of parallel, given the number of variables in play in that situation; the Redwood story, on the other hand, seems far more cut and dried, with nobody actually contradicting the tale with the exception of, as far as I can gather, a few people on this board.  If Brian Wilson says it happened, Chuck Negron says it happened, Danny Hutton is a bit vague but basically goes along with it, Carl Wilson isn't around to comment and Mike Love hasn't sued anybody despite the fact that a story that makes him look like a bit of a bully has appeared in print in at least two books, then surely the balance of probabilities is now tilting towards "it happened"?

As the great poem states: "They crowd the stage with countless hoards  / while the ones they love are not in sight."

Surely "hordes"?  Not that I'm a professor or anything.

I lay you odds that in 3 years time the BEATLES' solo catalogues (between '70 and '75, at least) are meshed together in an effort to keep that music sellable.

Already tiny steps are being taken in that direction:
http://www.thebeatles.com/news/4-free-itunes-ep-solo-brilliance-john-paul-george-ringo

He came to "All I Wanna Do" and said "Oh, we do that one sometimes", which, as we know, is not true and completely dismantled my question.

Did you consider that he might have read this thread, and was trolling you?

I'm not saying that it's what happened, but it's definitely what I would have done if I were Bruce Johnston.

“I start preaching on stuff like recycling. I drive everyone crazy with it. I probably should write a song called ‘The Recycle Man,’” he said.

There are indeed a number of Al Jardine songs that bear out the claim that he is "The Recycle Man".

It's a song written by Wayne Shanklin that's gone by a lot of titles; it's as often known as "Little Child" as "Daddy Dear".  In fact, the earliest recording of it that I'm aware of (by Frankie Laine and Jimmy Boyd) goes by the title of "The Little Boy And The Old Man":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2-BchYMSsY

One of the most famous recordings of it is by Danny (and Dena) Kaye:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nTj9mZLVEA

Eddie Constantine's version, "L'homme et L'enfant", was a no. 1 hit in France!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bJWnCiTsGM

It's featured (and now named as "Mommy Dear") in the film The Naked Kiss:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyTJZ_e6Y-8

Other notable versions are by Wes Montgomery, Robert Wyatt and Marilyn Manson!  Though not as a trio, disappointingly.  And then there's that version you linked to, which is totally Al Jardine whatever anyone else may tell you.

Well, "Fanfare For The Common Man" got to no. 2 in 1977.

I've heard some fans (and Wikipedia) suggest that the song "Johnny Carson" on Love You is actually Brian speaking autobiographically. There are lines like "the network makes him break his back" and other lyrics that suggest everyone is relying on Johnny, the talented icon. Some have suggested this is how Brian felt about his band mates and the record company using him to generate sales.

Do you think this is true? Is there any evidence to suggest that it is? Or is this just purely fan speculation?

I believe it was Peter Ames Carlin in the "Songwriter" documentary who asserted that there was similarity between Brian and Carson which Brian may have recognized (both broke their backs to make their bosses happy).

It's an interesting idea, and it was an interesting question, one that deserved to be taken more seriously than it did in this thread.  Emerson declared that all biography is autobiography, and while some will no doubt balk at applying that generalisation to something as apparently slight as "Johnny Carson", it does seem pretty unimaginative to dismiss any idea that isn't explicitly confirmed by the public record of what's been said in interviews.

I can't say that anything about Brian's behavior particularly surprises me.  The one piece of new information (if it is, in fact, correct) is that Beck will be featured on the new album in the form of guitar parts he had no intention of putting on the final album.  It's always hard to say whether that's accurate or if he's just saying it because he has a bone to pick with Brian and co, but if it is true it's concerning.

Popular machine-gun-fingered jazz fusion Buddhist John McLaughlin tells a similar story about his playing on "In A Silent Way" from Miles Davis's album of the same name: he thought it was just a rehearsal, didn't realise that the tape was running and so delivered what he considered to be a really hesitant, tentative performance.  It turns out that this was exactly what Miles wanted and so it was used in this form on the album.  And it is a thing of quite marvellous shimmering brilliance.