Thanks for the info. I guess the dream scenario is that Landy would have cleaned up Dennis, but people who say that nothing could have saved Dennis then might be right.

I wonder if Dennis' last chance ended with Murry's death in 1973. Supposedly he was working at getting closer to his father, but never got all the way there. Maybe if he had gotten something squared away with Murry — or sought meaningful therapy about it after Murry died — he could have gotten do the underlying cause of the drinking and drugs.

You probably will not hear any Dennis or Carl-penned songs if Brian is a part of the reunion, it makes him very sad/gives him bad memories.

It would never happen, but if they do these concerts, which would almost assuredly be their last all together, he's how I would love to see the final one end.

After they rock out on the encore, all the band members and special guests leave the stage, and Brian, Mike, Al, David and Bruce stay on. The screens behind them show pictures of the band through the years, with Carl and Dennis prominently featured in the photo montage. Brian says, "This is for Dennis and Carl, and for all of you who've supported us through the years."

The five then gather around one microphone and sing an a cappella version of "Farewell My Friend," changing the lyrics to "Farewell Our Friends."

The "Wouldn't It Be Nice" book (a dubious source, I know) said Carl was going to bring Landy in to try to help Dennis. In the POB/Bambu notes, Jimmy Guercio said he had an intervention planned at the Caribou ranch in January.

Does anyone know, was Landy going to be part of Guercio's intervention, or was it separate? For that matter, was the Landy thing even true?

I think it needs more info. How about this: "Dennis Wilson was affectionately called 'Buckwheat' by his fellow band members."

Hey I love to be proved wrong as I said but take your example Coke. The advertising I have seen from them for ever has been aimed at the young, their core market. I love the Beach Boys but can't see the band members selling their product.

Then you must have missed this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahe2r5fB5hU

I say that David Marks was the “John Lennon” of the Beach Boys.

Whatever you say, Yoko. 

Loved your intro to "It's OK." I think it works better than the cold vocal open of the original. It's too bad you can't get in a time machine to 1976 and play it for Brian. "15 Big Ones" might be different.

If I could make a couple of suggestions:
We'll Run Away
San Miguel

From the thread about songs where all the vocals are Brian:

Well, discounting the obvious (i.e. songs like "Caroline, No" or "Don't Talk..."), all the voices on "The Surfer Moon" sound awfully similar to me.

Of the seven vocal tracks on "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", six are Brian.

Which part is not Brian on that track? I thought they were all him...

Sorry, misremembered it slightly.

The 8-track sheet from Columbia looks like this (all spellings, etc. as on sheet):

1. Bryan - chorus
2. Bryan -  lead no. 1
3. vocal group no. 1
4. orchestra (i.e. instrumental track - AGD)
5. Bryan - lead no. 2
6  Bryan - chorus
7. vocal group no. 2
8. Bryan - no. 1 - echo

I also saw the same misspelling in (I think) the box set booklet.

Who working that closely with the Beach Boys thought his name was spelled "Bryan"? If his name actually was "Bryan" I could see misspelling it "Brian" because it's much more common with an "I" than a "Y" but not the other way.

Well, no matter how you spell it, Bryan is a great singer. Sometimes I have trouble telling his voice from Karl's. 

I think Mike was the first person to believe Brian Wilson could be a great songwriter. Even before Brian. Didn't Brian say he didn't know if he could write songs as good as what was on the radio and Mike said something like, "The stuff you write fooling around is better than most of the stuff on the radio."

Even in the "Wouldn't It Be Nice" book, where Brian/Landy rip Mike in many places, Brian said he would always be grateful for Mike for encouraging him to write songs.

Even if Mike hadn't done a lot of great singing and written some fine lyrics – which he did – this would be his most important contribution. Brian always needed someone to believe in him, and Mike did.

Only the original Four seasons, Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi are in the Hall. The others guys and Bob Crewe campaigned to include Joe Long, who replaced Nick on bass in 1965 and played and sang on a lot of hits, but the Hall turned them down. There is (or was) an internet campaign recently to get Joe Long in the Hall, but I don't think it succeeded.

I had always wondered why Dennis wasn't in that footage. Now it makes sense, knowing he shot it.

[personality,]

I don't think he did any damage. I think of the interview with Brian in 1980 (which seems to have vanished off YouTube) that includes him saying "I like food," cracking up Carl. Not only was Brian not slurring his words, but he had personality, which is something he doesn't seem to show much in recent years.

eating birthday cake for breakfast

I like your "Vegetables" and "Time to Get Alone," but I just saw your version of "Let the Wind Blow" and that's my favorite. Great job!

I'm more concerned about the throat damage done earlier), there is confusion regarding the physical abuse Dennis was subjected to by the Love brothers.  The first damage came from a sucker punch delivered by Steve, not Stan; (Dennis thought he might have additionally been kicked in the throat while he was down).  This was years & years before the brutal drunken beating he was subjected to by Stan & Rocky, just months before his death.

Ed, I'm very curious. How did this punch come about? Where was it, befofre or after a concert, at a band meeting? What started it? How did Steve's hitting Dennis go over with Carl and Al, and even Mike?

I know the booze, cocaine and cigarettes played their part in ruining Dennis' voice, but it would have been nice to hear POB sung by a guy who hadn't been sucker-punched in the throat.

At first I thought it was Dennis singing the first line of each verse of "Catch a Wave" until I head about Mike having a cold. I know it IS Mike with a cold, but it's weird he sounds so much like Dennis on the first line on each verse but like Mike on the third line of each verse.

I used to think Brian sang "This Whole World." Of course it was him on the first line, but the vocal "handoff" to Carl was so smooth I didn't notice it.

Dennis sounding more like Mike than Mike while singing bass on Its OK, Steamboat, River Song, Moonshine and at least part of Wouldn't It Be Nice.

How about the line "but baby don't you know" on "I'm Waiting for the Day." Is that Dennis or Mike?

It's kind of sad this album is still underground and unknown after all this time. Other albums that were pretty much ignored, like Odessey & Oracle and Forever Changes, have been recognized but no one gives a merda about Sunflower.

At least Rolling Stone put it in its Top 500 of all time a few years ago (No. 380). Maybe that got at least a couple of people who had never heard it to give it a try.

The thing that puzzles me about Carl was killing the reunion in 95/96. "You're Still a Mystery" and "Soul Searching" were not Pet Sounds material, but they were good songs. Couldn't he have fought for Brian to come up with BETTER songs instead of walking out for good because of a song he didn't like. He could have gotten "Run Don't Walk" on, and I think Carl would have been the perfect person to propose doing a Dennis track the way the Beatles did with the John songs for the Beatles Anthology.

It's just hard to picture a guy whose vocals were all over Summer in Paradise drawing an artistic line in the sand then.

As for being on stage, there was a clip that used to be on YouTube that summed it up perfectly. It was circa 88, and Carl did a beautiful version of "Forever." He performed it perfectly, and at the end told the audience, "That's a Dennis Wilson song for you guys."

Then Mike brought out the cheerleaders.

Carl must have known the best way to get the great music out there was as a Beach Boy, where the audiences (and money) would be, and he would have to tolerate Mike.

I wish they had hooked up with Rielley a couple of years sooner and he had had two big effects on Sunflower:

1. He had started to get the group back in vogue with the hip crowd before Sunflower came out, so it would have had a chance with the masses.

2. He could have convinced the Boys to withhold Breakaway and Celebrate the News from a the final Capitol single that was bound to go nowhere and have them give lesser songs like We're Together Again and Games Two Can Play for the single.

Then you add Breakaway and Celebrate the News and take off At My Window (definitely the weak link) and either Tears in the Morning or Got to Know the Woman and you've got one of the greatest albums EVER by ANYONE and a million-and-two seller.

Even so, it's a terrific album.

8. Slip On Through (It's widely acknoledged Dennis ruled on Sunflower - so why does he only get the single track (Forever)? This amazing opener is probably the best cut on the album, and it's exclusion is a sign of the blatant Brian favourtism that persists even when Brian isn't at the top of his game.

I agree. I think This Whole World, Forever and Add Some Music were musts from Sunflower, but Slip on Through should definitely be ahead of Our Sweet Love. Our Sweet Love is a great Brian tune with a fabulous vocal from Carl, but there are plenty of both on the box sedt. Slip on Through is an uptempo Dennis song with one of his all-time best vocals (second only to Sound of Free in my book), so it would have made a much better choice.

Others that should have made it (besides Let Him Run Wild) are Girls on the Beach, Kiss Me Baby and Where I Belong.

Well, at least it's interesting to note that he recorded the Smile-arrangement for IJWMFTT

I wonder if that was done more specifically for the film than the soundtrack. It's the point in the film where they are discussing Smile, so it seemed natural they would use that arrangement to help show what Smile was supposed to be.

"Let Him Run Wild" is my favorite BB song. I think we die-hards love it, but it's not wel known by the general public.

I agree with Jon who suggested it and everyone who seconded "We'll Run Away."  A lot of the others already suggested are great. I would add:

"Wake the World" - Very short, but great harmonies, and I LOVE the tuba.

"Slip on Through" GREAT Dennis song. Love his balladfs, but I wish he had done more uptempo songs like this and (of course) "Sound of Free"

"Melt Away" To me it's easily Brian's best solo song (besides "Caroline No" and the BWPS Smile songs). Was this a single in '88? If so, why wasn't it a hit?

"The Night Was So Young" I know Love You sparks great disagreements, but can't we all agree that this one is great?

"Rainbows" A very good song and, IMHO, Dennis' best vocal performance on POB. I think ths should have been the single off the album.

Here's a good look at Dennis singing the tag to It's OK while drumming. Go to the last two minutes of the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfDFee-GgU8

I haven't dug as deeply into their must as most of you, just having the 25 songs on the Best of the Monkees, but I think it's a terrific collection. I would rate the Monkees vocalists as 1. Mickey, 2. Mike, 3. Davy, 4. Peter, but my favorite on song on Best of the Monkees is Shade of Gray, with Davy and Peter alternating verses and harmonizing on the chorus.

Is Al Jardine no longer keeping it clean?