I like that reading of events because it makes sense, too. It was a  tricky way for Brian to get the Smile monkey off his back without actually returning to the Smile tapes. Once Smiley Smile was out there, he could say that Smile couldn't work as a new album anymore.

The vibe I got with Smiley Smile is that the band didn't know they were recording an album, per se. In an interview one of the band members (I think it was Al) recalled being under the impression that Brian was recording some home studio experiments to add to the stuff he'd recorded for Smile. The only Smile songs he completely redid during the sessions were "Wind Chimes", "Wonderful",  and "Vegetables" (except the tag). "Heroes and Villains" was a mix of everything.

Brian, at that point in his career, never really told the band what he was up to. They did what he said or there was an argument. I think they went along with Smiley Smile because a) they were desperate to get Brian recording again, and b) they didn't know they were recording an entire new album. I doubt they were thrilled when Brian presented the master to Smiley Smile, but they didn't have the ultimate choice.

I love Wild Honey, but I don't see it as a commercial album, except for "Darlin'". I can't imagine playing it for my friends and having them be overly impressed.

You know, it would've been interesting to hear Al Jardine redo the Wild Honey album. As strange as it sounds, in interviews Al seems to have had a good handle on the Beach Boys struggles. He said something along the lines of how all of sudden everything Brian did had to be underproduced, with that detuned piano or organ on everything. Look what he did with "Cotton Fields".

Stop hating on Mike. He's a smart guy. He knows about "cumulous nimbus" clouds and the word "apropos".

Where is this mainstream audience snapping up Beach Boys autotuned material?

I'm not against autotune in theory. It's all over the radio. But the way the BBs/Brian often use it, it sounds awful. Sometimes, it seems like once the autotune is turned on, Brian stops trying to even sing in key. But then when he really tries, like on "Summer's Gone", it's palatable.

"I don't know. I still can't get that darn chorus right. Son of a gun!" Brian said, exasperated.

Mike crawled out from under a table.

"Cello triplets," Mike whispered in Carl's ear.

And then Mike ducked back under the table.

"CELLO TRIPLETS!" Carl shouted mechanically, as if he was a robot.

"That's a great idea, Carl. Cello triplets. How'd you come up with that?" Brian asked.

"I don't know. This is gonna sound really weird, but it's like Mike whispered that in my ear," Carl explained.

"Y'know, the very same thing has been happening to me. Except I'll wake up and I'll swear Mike is standing over me. It's really strange. In fact, it was Mike's voice that taught me the chords to 'Good Vibrations', if you'll believe that!" Brian mused.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Brian opened the door.

It was Mike.

"Hey, Brian. Got a really good idea for that acidy song of yours. What if, during the chorus, I went 'I'm pickin' up good vibrations' and stuff over and over. Wait. Just listen, man: I'm pickin' up good vibrations, she's givin' me excitations!"

"That's kinda groovy, Mike," Brian responded.

"But what do you think about the melody? Da-dadada-da-da-da-duh," Mike intoned.

"It sounds almost exactly like the bass melody," Carl offered.

Mike furrowed his eyebrows.

"No, it's way different."

"Gee, Mike..."

"No. Just shut up, Carl. I don't hear it. Did you guys smoke some dope or something? I mean, God."

"OK Mike, well, let's just try it and see what it sounds like," Brian suggested.

"Alright, Brian. Alright. Pretty soon it'll be like I wrote the whole song for you. Geeze!"

Brian still has a new album coming out? I'd forgotten.

Do you think an angel loses its wings every time Brian has to pronounce the "s" at the end of the word during a vocal take? Do you think Satan gets another underling whenever there's a cymbal crash on a Brian song?

The Steve Kalinich material is pretty intriguing. "You've Touched Me" has a real Friends vibe.

I will say that I'm not a big fan of a lot of the lyrics on Brian's solo material. This part of "Shelter" really bugs me, for example:

Now it's two o'clock
Lines around the block
Waiting for the parade
When the dark of night
Or the bright sunlight
Has you runnin' for shade

Half of it doesn't even really make sense. The first three lines sound like pure filler, and the last three lines don't work together. The "Or" part doesn't fit. The dark of night will never have you runnin' for shade. I get what he's actually trying to say, but it's awful lyrics.

I guess when it comes down to it, most of the stuff sounds like forced, lazy run-throughs.  I suspect, as do many, that he really wouldn't have done anything after Love You without the insistence of Landy and others since.

There were some songs on BW88 that definitely sounded inspired, like songs he really wanted to do.

Other than that, most of Imagination, TLOS, the two Gershwin "collabs",  and parts of TWGMTR strike me as the only times Brian has really gone all out.

He was obviously inspired during the Imagination era, even laying the groundwork for tracks that'd appear on TWGMTR, and he seemed really keen on positioning himself as an AC artist. TLOS speaks for itself.  The two Gerswhin songs come off well, and I remember Brian talking about how hard he was working on "The Like In..." in interviews. With TWGMTR, he seemed to not really know what to write, but then suddenly he popped up with the "Life Suite".  Which, again, speaks for itself.

Curious to hear what people think about Brian's more modern songwriting efforts. Forget about the production. Let's focus on the melodies, chords, and lyrics. I remember reading an interview from the '80s/'90s, and when Brian is asked about his growth as a songwriter, he says something like (this isn't verbatim) : "I think I've gotten better every year. Ha! Go ahead and print that!"

And it is an interesting topic. The guy lives with the blessing and curse of having his most critically acclaimed works dating back to his 20s. Imagine that. It's not like Brian has been sitting on his hand this whole time. The guy has seemingly obsessed over music his entire life. He's never quit, even if he got lazy as a producer at times.

Besides a dicey period after he left Landy's so-called "care", I think Brian's material has increasingly sounded more professional than ever before. Something like "Lay Down Burden" is just good old-fashioned songcraft.  It doesn't have that same quality of manic inspiration you hear in Pet Sounds - it's simply a really nice song. In fact, it's impossible for me to imagine Brian writing and singing something like that in his 20s.

In his 20s, Brian knew how to use the Wrecking Crew to produce amazing Spector-style tracks with Burt Bacharach chords, Four Freshman harmonies, and Chuck Berry/Chubby Checker rhythms.  Which is a TREMENDOUS accomplishment. But I sense there were gaps in his overall understanding of music that he's filled in since.

What to do you guys think?

Maybe Mike's original contribution to "Mama Says" was the "boy" bass vocal, but it was uncredited later? It would be like Mike to add a boy/girl element to it.

It's all about the music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kYX8IppcbI

I have no knowledge about that, but I doubt it because Brian had moved away from that sound.

Brian was really an enigma at that point, though. He might record the backing track to "America, I Know You", or he might record "Sail Plane Song".

I also just noticed something really bizarre when I looked up Dennis Wilson's height (searching for a correlation between height and hairlines in the band): https://www.google.com/search?q=height+of+dennis+wilson&gws_rd=ssl . Google lists Mike as Dennis' father-in-law! Why hasn't Mike sued?

Carl always had a really high hairline. He was able to hide it pretty darn well, but as you can see here:



He wasn't like his brothers. If you were to make the ideal human, borrowing the genetic sequences responsible for the heads of hair on Brian and Dennis would be a good start.  When I see pictures of Brian in his late 20s, I seethe with jealousy. Hard to believe he could struggle with depression with such great hair.

Mike Love: I HATE people that don't think their artistic output should be tied to my lyrics for the rest of their lives.

Clearly. I still don't know what happened there.

He has to leave it ambiguous so that we'll continue to speculate, providing him the perfect opportunity to later cut us like a knife with another surgically ambiguous point.

And she's cruisin' through the hamburger stand now

Mike Love was known to call his nether regions the "hamburger stand".

Mike Love hates artistes and beatniks! I NEVER WOULDA GUESSED

Ah, I found what was referencing on the Hoffman board ( http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-beach-boys-soulful-old-man-sunshine-whats-up-with-the-sound.276506/page-2 ):

"In my interview Rick said that the instrumental session at Sunset was painful because, wanting his own sound, he elected to contract a bunch of L.A. jazz cats that he knew instead of the usual crew of Beach Boys session musicians, and they couldn't grasp the pure simplicity of a basic rock shuffle. Rick said that the vocal sessions were equally painful, as the Beach Boys were skeptical -- agreeing to participate because of Murry's insistence and Brian's participation in the songwriting, but reluctant due to to the involvement of an outsider, and due to Rick's relationship with Murry. Rick recalled that every time Carl would attempt the lead vocal, Mike would dance around in front of him doing a "Vegas lounge singer shuffle" across the floor, cracking Carl up and ruining the take. Eventually Rick had too much of it and blew up -- which basically resulted in the group saying "f-you" and walking out. Carl's vocal on the bridge (where he flubs) was a scratch vocal, and he never came back to replace it."

It can only be for the way that tune came into being that they never considered SOMS for release, not for a lack of quality

I don't if it was Rick Henn or someone else that said this, but legend has it the rest of the group thought the sound of the track didn't fit the group. It was too much like a show tune. Supposedly the group was giggling a lot during the takes. As we know, Brian's a pretty sensitive dude, so that may have been part of it.

Dick Van Dyke was a kinky freak.