Man, that part about Carl's death was tough. To hear Brian say "we lost him".

The whole Al Jardine thing has always confused me. It seems that even Al and his own son Matt can't get their story straight. Al has stated that he"quit" as a member of The Beach Boys when Carl died. Or rather, he would have quit, had he not been forced out against his will. Matt has stated that not only did Al NOT quit, but he actually wanted to change the Beach Boys setlist and start playing more less known songs.

I'm a huge hardcore fan of The Who. Keith was actually asked to play a few shows with The Beach Boys in 1972, I think. Although, the year 1972 conflicts with The Who's touring schedule. Keith and Bruce Johnston appeared on Top Of The Pops in 1966. There is actually an infamous story about that. Keith was supposed to play a Who gig the day of the TOTP show with Bruce. He didn't tell Bruce, though. Keith was late to the Who gig, and the show ended with a huge on stage fight. Pete Townshend "accidentally" hit Keith in the eye with his guitar. Keith quit the band for about two weeks, and The Who very nearly broke up. It was reported in the papers that John Entwistle and Keith were going to form another band.

Well, I can tell you that Al WAS at the August 8th 1992 show at Blossom Music Center. I remember he and Mike introduced Matt Jardine. That Blossom show just might have been the very first concert I ever went to. I was only seven, and I don't really remember any of it. I'd love to find a set list for that show.

I have an interview from 1981 where Brian talks about wanting to re-record it.

Sheriff, you questioned whether the band was expressing their true selves in the 67-72 period-I think clearly you have to seperate members. One of the things that made the BBs interesting (and also maddening) was the differing opinions, interests, etc.  It's clear that in the 70s and into the 80s Carl did not want to be just a member of an oldies band.  I have interviews from 1967-83 where he consistently argues for playing new songs and mixing up the set lists.  I also have an interview from the 80s where Bruce opines that the peak for him was 1971 at Carnegie Hall and that he isn't that happy with their 80s shows.  Al also expressed some reservations with the direction things were heading.  I think that each member came to grips, in their own way, with the fact that by the mid 80s they were becoming an oldies act...but I think in the 70s they all (yes-including Mike) to some degree wanted to stay relevant and not just become an oldies band.  I think also that the band was pretty committed to the material on Holland for example-I mean the California Saga is close to Al's heart and The Trader was a fave of Carl's, etc...I don't think they were just trying to be hip (though I do believe Student Demonstration Time was an attempt to be hip) 

It's also interesting to note that during the early 70's, Mike was much more outspoken at shows than he is now. Listen to how he throws his two cents in after Dennis tells his Nixon joke at the Hartford 1973 show. Mike back then wasn't the "I'm picking up Bush vibrations", ultra conservative guy that he is now.

This is pretty much off-topic, but is the I'm a Man outtake the Muddy Waters blues song? I've seen I'm a Man mentioned here, and I've always wondered that. I can't really picture The Beach Boys doing blues.

Now, why can't every Brian Wilson interview be this good? There was one thing that really surprised me though:

“Surf’s Up.”
That was written with Van Dyke Parks in 1966 and it was done on drugs. We took speed pills. “Surf’s Up” was probably the worst vocal I ever sang.

Bruce told Roger Scott during the Capitol Radio interview for KTSA that "the Smile tapes are around. They really are around. We just have to decide what to do with them, issue them for UNICEF or Cambodian Relief....."

I wonder if that quote included tapes that are now thought to be lost? Just imagine if the Look vocal sessions had existed as "recently" as 1980. It almost makes you want to cry....

There was a place here in Canada called CD Warehouse.  They had a hard copy catalogue that you could order out of and they updated an reprinted the catalogue each year.  It included coming releases as well as back-catalogue stuff.  I distinctly remember that around the time my Beach Boys obsession began (94-95) there was an entry, with a catalogue number for "The Beach Boys - Smile".  As soon as I saw that entry I placed a pre-order and checked in regularly after the release came and went.

I hasten to add that this was a strictly legit store - no boots.

Somebody should try to track down that catalouge number.

Whatever you do don't do a search egine on him because there will be some photos that will make you ill.

And you know this....how? 

I found a video clip of it. Pay close attention starting at around three and a half minutes in. Dennis is literally falling all over Mike. Carl looks like he wants to kill somebody. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pMsbUrqH34

Yes, it's that organ and sax bit right before the "la do day" vocal. It's much faster, but it's basically the same riff.

I LOVE this song! Everything about it is brilliant. In my opinion, it's Brian's pre-Pet Sounds "peak".

Are any of those photos in the Beautiful Dreamer documentary? I remember seeing a few pictures on there of Brian in a beard.

I was just wondering, does anybody have any pictures from the last few Smile sessions from May 1967? I was just wondering if you can tell in the pictures that things were starting to "go wrong". I mean, does Brian seem upset or fustrated?

Funny. I never realized. Tell me more please.

BTW, coincidence has it that I heard the song in my dreams tonight and thought: what a classic!

It's after the second verse in "Little Girl". It's the "ba ba ba ba ba ba ba-do do doob!" part in "Wouldn't It Be Nice". Man, I wish that Beach Boys vocals were easier to talk about pheonetically. 

I was listening to this song the other day, and I suddenly realised that there is a section that later turned up in Wouldn't It Be Nice. Has anybody else noticed? Am I the very last Beach Boys fan to have noticed? 

I'm not sure that LSD is completely to blame. I think the fact that he was already experienceing the affects of being paranoid schitzophrenic didnt help. I'm sure the acid only worsened the symptoms.

Not to make this a drug forum or anything but was the acid of the late 60's more powerful than the acid of today? I'm not a burnout or anything but I have had a few experiences with Liquid LSD in my early 20's. It was powerful but I dont ever remember feeling completely out of control. Maybe the LSD from back then was just stronger. Maybe Brain had a connection with Owsley:) .  Any of you guys around back in the day to comment?

The acid back then was whole orders of magnitude stronger - the stuff Brian took was very pure.

This may not be accurate, but I read somewhere that one dose back in the 60's was about ten times more powerful than the acid of today.

Since we're on the subject, I thought I would post a video I found. This is even shorter than the 4:00 edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYboGE243jA&feature=related

Hey petsite, thanks a bunch for those articles!  That 1977 one is pretty depressing. I thought it was odd that Dennis and Carl were so open and honest, considering the rest of the group probably went bat sh*t when they read it. I wonder what Al would say today if he read his comment about not needing Dennis?

Am I the only one here who got that slightly sick-in-the-gut feeling when Bruce slyly mentioned that all this Smile activity was going on without Brian's knowledge, let alone his approval?

[PS: You had (indicated) that the album might include some “SMiLE” tracks …BJ: I have decided that I’m going to wait until Brian would really give his permission to do it. Guercio wantsto open the album with “Rock Plymouth Rock/Roll” and end with “Been Way Too Long”. I wanted to make upa collage, but I want Brian to be the one to put the collage together. I can tell he still feels funny about that stuff.You know, there a lot of “SMiLE” stuff intact …]

Reading alot of the posts about Here Comes The Night gotme thinking back to 1979 -1982. We didn't have the internet to get information on the Beach Boys. We had to grab the little tidbits thrown out by the group to Fanzines, Billboard, GoldMine, Cash Box etc. I was looking back over old articles this afternoon and it took me back. The fans from back then (like me) we breathless waiting for all of these releases and projects that never came to fruition, and then all it took was another announcement to get us pumping again. Case in point are two blurbs from Bruce Johnston:

From 11/78:

PS: You had (indicated) that the album might include some “SMiLE” tracks …

BJ: I have decided that I’m going to wait until Brian would really give his permission to do it. Guercio wants
to open the album with “Rock Plymouth Rock/Roll” and end with “Been Way Too Long”. I wanted to make up
a collage, but I want Brian to be the one to put the collage together. I can tell he still feels funny about that stuff.
You know, there a lot of “SMiLE” stuff intact …

From 02/81:

Bruce: You never asked me about the "Fire" tapes? They're all there. Desper and I have
assembled all that stuff. It's all there.

Brad: Is it going to come out?

Bruce: It's better not to put it out.

Brad: Why?

Bruce: 'Cause if you put it out now, it's going to be a disappointment. We're going to collage the
"Smile" album in this cornpilation. We're gonna just take . . . go through the "Smile" album -
Brian doesn't know this - and just take little sections of the tunes we have and put it out as kind
of a sampler of the "Smile" album. 'Cause it'll be better as a teaser than the whole thing. It's
great, but a lot of these things aren't finished. So it's better to go and collage them and ... for
instance, if I played you the whole "Fire" part, it's Interesting, but it's kind of interesting like
hearing Stravinsky do something.

Brad. "Fire" was just one part of an "Elements Suite."

Bruce: Oh, true, but it goes on and on and on and on.

Brad. Does the "Elements Suite" exist, completely?

Bruce: Everything's there.

Brad: The water section was somewhat similar to "Cool, Cool Water?"

Bruce; Mmmmmm.

Brad: The air section ... Brian has told someone.. . it's in an interview ... that "Air" was a piano
Instrumental. Is that right?

Bruce: I'd have to just go back and look at everything. I'm just telling you the tapes are sitting
around. We're just going to skim the "Smile" tapes and make a beautiful six-minute collage.
You'll love it. It's better to do it that way, because musically now, as opposed to '66 or '67, it
would be more interesting to just give you a peek at it than to do the whole thing. There's been
too much press on it. It's like talking about bringing out the '67 Rolls Royce and they finally show
it in '81. You go, "Oh, no."

Brad: What Is the status of a new album, a studio album, this year?

Bruce: Hah. Are you kidding?

Brad: No.

Bruce: No. Singles. I'm trying to get everyone to go and record "Rock And Roll Lullaby," the B.J.
Thomas record. I think it would be a great hit for us, just the way "Barbara Ann" was. I think it's
good to do an old outside song.

Brad: So there are no plans for an album this year?

Bruce: Well, we'll have to. And it'll come because we'll do groups of singles.

Brad: When will it come?

Bruce: We wouldn't have an album out until the middle of the summer and that's probably too
soon. We're gonna start with some singles around May. You know, the production gets passed
around. Maybe I won't be the producer. Maybe it will be (James William) Guercio, 'cause it's his
label. You've seen the production pass around. Ultimately, it should always be Brian, but
sometimes he doesn't want to take the ball.

Brad: Is there a chance "I'm a Man" will be a single?

Bruce: Well, if I'm around, I'll get that onto the album ... and "Doo Ron Ron."


No wonder we kept thinking that the next great thing was just around the bend.........

Thank you so much for posting this! Now, something like the above is the reason why I hang around message boards! Would you happen to have other vintage articles or interviews like this to post? Man, this would make for a great new section of the Smily board: vintage articles. 

I think the ultimate verdict is how fast the BB's dropped HCTN disco from their set list. After going through a major effort to prepare their live presentation of that song, obviously with the hope it would be a hit, it was gone after a few gigs.

Funny you should mention that. I was lucky enough to hear one of the rare times it was done live, and I wondered at the time how they pulled it off. Did they use backing tapes? It sounded a lot like the album version.

I had the L.A. version of HCTN in my head last night, and I had a small epiphoney. Yes, disco was the very last thing The Beach Boys should have ever even attempted to do. Yes, it sticks out on the album like a sore thumb. Yes, it just all around sucks. BUT, the absolute most evil crime the disco HCTN ever commited was, it defaced and forever tarnished the reputation of an otherwise GREAT song from Wild Honey. Never again would the Wild Honey track just be an underrated song. As soon as the disco version came out, that was and is what most people here probably think about when the song title is mentioned. Never again can we just sit back and listen to the Wild Honey track and appreciate it being what it is....a great R&B song. We are always reminded of the debacle that is: "the disco version".

I didn't know that Kokomo brought Beach Boys awareness to the world. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO4n7TTRiYE&feature=related