Like Dylan (one of the best singers out there), Keith has great phrasing and feeling, specially on the ballads. You listen to him sing and you feel he really means it.

Yoko didn't prevent John from collaborating with anyone he wanted to collaborate with, or restrict access to John - John just wanted to be with her at all times, she was a mother/father figure for John, as Melinda is perhaps to Brian as well.  Really I think the whole quote is a nonissue.

While I admire Yoko, have all her albums, think that her Plastic Ono Band, Approx Infinitely Universe and Season of Glass are great, it has been known that she, during the Dakota Days, blocked several attempts to reach John by family and friends (Macca, Jagger, etc).

Anyway, Mike has a lot of nerve to compare his creative partnership with Brian to that of Lennon/McCartney, and is disrespectful to both Melinda and Yoko. But that's your usual Mike Love.

If Mike's saying is true, I guess what Barenaked Ladies' song Brian is gonna cover now......

Check this great article about over-compression:

http://www.austin360.com/music/content/music/stories/xl/2006/09/28cover.html

And, believe it or not, there's difference between digital pressings. I know a friend who have A/Bed a record like Flaming Lips's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, the local edition and the US one, and the differences were there. I can say than local pressings of Presley reissues and Macca's Chaos and Creation in the backyard are prone to skip on many cd players.

But you don't have to take it from me. Here's an expert on the matter, Don Was:

(from a mid 90s Bass Player magazine)

How much does the mastering process affect a bass tone?

Tremendously--you can do amazing things when you master records. But it's not just the mastering process that affects it; sometimes what happens after a record is mastered has an even greater effect on the end result. For example: When I helped the Stones reissue their catalog, [engineer] Bob Ludwig spent an incredible amount of time on the remastering, because there weren't any EQed master tapes of those records around. We ultimately found that the best versions to refer to were the original vinyl pressings. Then, after Ludwig went to all this trouble matching the newly remastered versions to the vinyl, we discovered that somewhere in the CD-manufacturing process there's something called "jitter" that can dramatically change the quality of a disc. So even after the remastering, on the discs we got back from the factory all the warmth of the bass had vanished, the high end had become tinny, and the echo had disappeared. The jitter defect had so totally altered the character of the sound that we went to the head of Virgin Records and asked to have the discs recalled. This was all because someone had made a defective part that went unchecked! People used to talk about the erratic nature of vinyl, but CDs are just as uncontrolled in terms of quality.

So all the work you do in the studio can be dramatically changed in the manufacturing process.

It's frightening. When they decide to re-press the new Stones record after the first batch is gone, no one's going to call me and say, "Don, we just ordered a new batch of CDs. Some are being done in Germany, some are being done in Atlanta--we'll send you random samples of all of these to compare." It won't happen. And maybe some schmuck who works in one of those factories will decide he knows better than Bob Ludwig. Maybe it's always bothered him that hi-hat cymbals don't sound as if they were made of tin, so he's going to fix it! He's going leave his thumbprint right on Charlie Watts's forehead! [Laughs.] I'd say if you're going to buy an album, buy it when it's released, because that's what's closest to the truth.

Best quote (with respect to what people think about his music): "I would imagine they think some of it's pretty good".  I liked his quote about songs going to sleep at night too...sounds crazy at first, but like the interviewer said, who's to argue with Brian Wilson on music?

Remember "This song wants to sleep with you"

If you read the whole review, you'll notice he ain't got nothing about the classic work of Brian. I guess he's trying to say that -in his view- is all style over substance
And it hasn't anything to do with age either: he liked Randy Newman's (great) new album,  "this man of pensionable age still so clearly in thrall to emotions a teenager could relate to."

Guardian review follows>
The trouble with pop music, the thing no one ever envisaged, is that no one ever wants to stop making it. A few decades ago the idea that bands would exist past their 30s was ludicrous, now the baby-boomers are into their 60s and still they plough on. Brian Wilson brilliantly nailed the elliptical beauty of the Californian lifestyle 45 years ago - so why can't he just leave it alone? That Lucky Old Sun is full of Beach Boys-isms - the massed choral voices, the jaunty piano, the strident strings - but it's just not any good at all. When Wilson sings about surfer girls and Mexican girls and Southern California and first love, truly, the only emotion you feel is sadness. Every single note feels forced, in hock to a sound and a set of attitudes that date from a time before many of us were born. Please, let this be the end.

A fine album. Scott Bennett is the best collaborator Brian had since Andy Paley (Darian is great but he didn't write with him). Brian's singing is his best in a decade, and the idea of having the band singing backings, even leads, works for the better.

Having said that, I think that the concept (narrative segues, reprises, etc.) makes this album much stronger than it actually is when it comes to the songs itself. MAD asides, he has written lots of songs (certainly good) like these on the last 25 years. The concept, performance and production make the difference.

And while Paul Mertens' arrangements are quite good and suitable for Brian's, it would have been great to have Van Dyke Parks (check the great new album of Inara George) writing them.


To Jez: Great analysis. Keep posting those jazz takes on You Tube!

Well, it's more than obvious that we don't agree. I'll just concede you one thing: when I wrote my first post I hadn't realized that Gaines had quit the thread. Bad timing on my part, I admit. It also seems to me than your last post showed less respect for me than my 1st post to Gaines, but we better leave it at that.

Without going into nitpicking and details only a fan can notice,  I think my questions/observations about the book are quite common; I never had (neither antother Beatles fan on the Internet, afaik) the chance to try to bring those issues to one of the cowriters, it seemed a good opportunity. And besides, there's no so many things to ask to Steven Gaines as there is with AGD, Alan Boyd of Peter Carlin. I'm posting this instead of pm-ing to Luther in case anyone else disagree with my previous post (I assume that's what's happening)

Steven,

since I've never read Heroes & Villains (it wasn't published in my country, I just gave it a quick look on a bookstore during a holiday overseas. I saw the movie, but I try to remember it just for laughs -that Planet of Apes facial hair!) but The love you make was, if not my first Beatle book, the first serious Beatle bio I read, I'd like to take this chance to make some comments/questions about it.

1. I think is a valuable book when it comes to the private lives and inside stuff of the business, especially the stories that Peter Brown brought to it, although it draws heavily from the Hunter Davies and Philip Norman books (you even repeated a mistake of Norman, writing that the original version of The Long and Winding Road, before Spector's involvement, was just Paul with an acoustic guitar)

2. As you wrote on this thread, your field of writing is not music, but I think you did a disservice to Ringo's reputation with the groundless claim that his drums were usually replaced by Paul's. I mean, even today some journalists repeat that non-fact.

3. As I said before, Brown's insight was one of the main assets of the book, though I think  his attitude was basically unethical to a group of people who trusted him (not that such things as ethics matters when it comes to this kind of tell-all books). My question is, why -bordering on hypocrisy- Brown talked at lenght about Brian Epstein's sex life, but didn't say anything about his own. Other sources claim that  not only Brown is gay, but he also had a relationship with Epstein. Can you confirm/deny this? Are you still in touch with Brown?

4. And the last. Why did you try to make the book look -on the introduction and Brown's publicity press- like it was officially sanctioned by The Beatles? George and Paul's disowned it and with reason: to name an example, I can't imagine Harrison endorsing a book which was going to include his affair with Maureen Starkey.

Anyway, I reread several parts of it recently, and I still think it's an entertaining, interesting, if very flawed look at one side of the Beatles' lives

While I am on the subject of Curt Boettcher, can anyone give me some suggestions on what albums he did that I should check out?  At this point I have the great Sagittarius albums "Present Tense" and "Blue Marble".  I also have a 3 disc Millenium collection and the "California Music" album.  Anything else I should try to find?  Thanks!

Check the first Association ablum

I couldn't help but notice that in May Pang's book Loving John (for you Beatles non-fans, the "John" is John Lennon), there is a really sappy thanks to Dr. Eugene E. Landy and thanking him for being such a compassionate man (or something....too lazy to open the book)...anybody know what that's about???

She and her co writer thanks Landy for his compresion of the fragileties of the human soul and his study of the human behaviour (I'm paraphrasing from the Spanish edition) which were an inspiration during the hard times when they wrote the book. I assume that the psychobabble that pops up from time to time regarding Lennon's behavior comes from the Landy school. Actually, years ago, someone (David Propsky, I believe) inquired May about this on rec.music.beatles but she didn't answered.

I've uploaded several articles on Rapidshare. They are pdfs that I got several years ago from a site that is no longer up.

http://rapidshare.com/files/134791303/BWBBpdfarticles.rar.html

Articles from New York Times (3), Rolling Stone (2), Mojo (2), Q, Vox, Pulse, Request, EQ, Contrast, Speakout, and excerpts from Linda McCartney's Sixties and Leaf's book.

enjoy them.

Not to change the subject(to much  ), but I have my own "Did Brian really say this?" question. Here's an interesting quote I found. My question is, when and where did he say this? What did the other members of the beach boys think of it?

"The BB's are out. The BB's are being arseholes to me. So. I take the lesser of two evils; I'll work on myown, solo, before I work with a bunch of guys that don't give a merda about me...they just spit at me and kick me, no respect at all."

VOX magazine, 1995. One of the craziest interviews (and pictures) BW has ever done. I have a pdf of that  one and others of those years: Pulse, Mojo w/ Peter Buck. And some stuff from Rock's Backpages. PMme if you want it.

One of the funniest, and possibly most telling, things I have read/heard is a quote from Brian about his marriage. The interviewer was asking about the emotional security that Melinda provides Brian, and he up and went and said something about how they never have sex.

Remember that Brian has been talking about his lack of sex since the "Brian is Back" RS interview of 1976. He said then that it was a yoga technique. In typical BW fashion, he informed "It's been a couple months now I haven't had any sex.  That's just a personal answer."

So did I.

Daniel Craig should be trying to be a decent Bond instead of spamming us...

The (male) singer from The Magic Numbers says Brian -when they toured togheter- told them they were the best band of the latest 20 years. Well, not su much but they're very good.

Don't forget that this a playlist for iTunes, not his fav songs.

I guess the most Stone-influenced BW track is You're so good to me (Stones meet Stax, actually). I wonder if the Stones took the idea for the background vocals on She's a rainbow from that one. 

"I've got my secret here.  I don't tell anybody my secret. I have a secret... I'll tell you anyway: I don't have any sex, OK? The secret is abstaining from orgasm. An Einsteinian formula that if you abstain for having an orgasm for, say, ten years, you create a void in your brain. In other words, if you don't express an orgasm for ten years, it's a long time, right? Most people thinks two weeks without an orgasm is a long enough time.
And I did that, y' know? My dad told me in high school: 'Son, now you're gonna be going through a lot of hell as you grow up, and the one thing you should never do is you should not have orgasms and masturbate and you should not f*** with girls.' And I tried it out.  I'd been jacking off all summer, y' know? And towards the end of the summer, I'm going into my junior year in high school and my dad lays that on me. I go there and I try it out and I say: 'What the f*** is this sh*t? Hey, wait a minute, man, I like not coming better than coming!' And I kept going that way for a long, long time and finally I came to the conclusion that I'm gonna tell people my secret. But I just don't want some chick to go: "Oh, that's your secret? Well here, I'll make you come'... Ain't that a weird trip?"

Vox, December 1995. One of Brian's craziest interviews.

she doesn't seem particularly demanding or extravagant. She's obviously not looking to springboard a career off Brian.

Well, one thing's for shure: she's certainly not Heather Mills.
Or Yoko

This a great and a bit ambiguous song, an example of writing from a character's point of view:

Art Lover
(Ray Davies)

Sunday afternoon there's something special
It's just like another world.
Jogging in the park is my excuse
To look at all the little girls.

I'm not a flasher in a rain coat,
I'm not a dirty old man,
I'm not gonna snatch you from your mother,
I'm an art lover.
Come to daddy,
Ah, come to daddy,
Come to daddy.

Pretty little legs, I want to draw them,
Like a Degas ballerina.
Pure white skin, like porcelain,
She's a work of art and I should know
I'm an art lover.
Come to daddy,
And I'll give you some spangles.

Little girl don't notice me
Watching as she innocently plays.
She can't see me staring at her
Because I'm always wearing shades.
She feeds the ducks, looks at the flowers.
I follow her around for hours and hours.
I'd take her home, but that could never be,
She's just a substitute
For what's been taken from me.
Ah, come to daddy, come on.

Sunday afternoon can't last forever,
Wish I could take you home.
So, come on, give us a smile
Before you vanish out of view.
I've learned to appreciate you
The way art lovers do,
And I only want to look at you.

The thing really new (and negative) for me it's Brian saying that Davis picked all the carols.