new article about Brian

[Runaways]

Here's a quote from Foskett in a recent article.

"He even continues to amaze Foskett. “When he sprung the Gershwin thing on me, I said, ‘Cool, that’s great.’ But I didn’t understand the extent of what it was,” he says, in awe of Wilson’s arrangements, which he calls nothing short of phenomenal. “I think the general public — and his fans especially — will be extremely happy.”"

http://www.timesleader.com/features/It_rsquo_s_back_to_the_beach_with_Wilson_11-08-2009.html

[brother john]

Weekender: What are you working on currently?

BW: I’m working on a new album, but I don’t know which direction it’s going to go in. It’s in the beginning stages. There’s a semblance of a few songs but it’s not going very good.

This is good news, because it means Brian's struggling, which means Brian's writing!! TLOS was so accomplished that I couldn't help wondering if Scott Bennett hadn't written it all, but the fact that our man is having difficulties is good because it means he is involved.

Maybe I shouldn't be doubtful of Brian's abilities but given that Brian Wilson is a man who, as someone once memorably put it, can barely put his trousers on the right way round, it does make you wonder if he really can write a song or an arrangement without someone standing behind him and guiding his hands. 

Looking forward to whatever the Big Guy puts out.

[Runaways]

Weekender: What are you working on currently?

BW: I’m working on a new album, but I don’t know which direction it’s going to go in. It’s in the beginning stages. There’s a semblance of a few songs but it’s not going very good.

This is good news, because it means Brian's struggling, which means Brian's writing!! TLOS was so accomplished that I couldn't help wondering if Scott Bennett hadn't written it all, but the fact that our man is having difficulties is good because it means he is involved.

Maybe I shouldn't be doubtful of Brian's abilities but given that Brian Wilson is a man who, as someone once memorably put it, can barely put his trousers on the right way round, it does make you wonder if he really can write a song or an arrangement without someone standing behind him and guiding his hands. 

Looking forward to whatever the Big Guy puts out.

i scratch my head then laugh.

[Ron]

I think the "it's not going too well" line is just Brian saying words to get the interview over.  It was probably his 12th interview of the day. 

[Runaways]

i don't think Brian can white lie like that.  Foskett thinks it's amazing. Brian thinks he's having problems.  sounds like he's being pushed.  which is great.

[Ron]

I don't think he's white lying, I think he's opening his mouth and saying whatever comes out of his mouth.  He's very capable of it; he does it in every interview! 

BTW, I think the album is a great idea and will be very, very good.  I'm just saying you can't really put any merit on anything at all that Brian says in an interview.  He's likely to say anything. 

[Wirestone]

Just to restate: Brian isn't talking about the Gershwin project in that interview. He's talking about something else -- a rock and roll album or something like it. He doesn't really have any writing to do for the Gershwin album (assembling the Gershwin fragments aside, but even those may end up being just instrumental interludes).

And yes, Brian can still write songs. TLOS has a lot of after-the-fact gloss -- but the 10 or so songs at its core are Brian hammering away at a keyboard in Scott Bennett's apartment. From Brian and everyone else's accounts, he had a burst of inspiration in the summer of 06, and he wrote and recorded 18 or so songs. Good Kind of Love -- BW only, music and lyrics. Ditto for Just Like Me and You. The bonus tracks especially show Brian still a creative force. Scott helped, of course, but very little of what Scott has written and recorded on his own sounds like TLOS (bits of MAD aside -- and for such a terrific song, I'll make that exception).

[Wrightfan]

Is Nelson Bragg dressed up as "The Goof" 

Also Taylor Mills...VA VA VOOM!

[brother john]

...
And yes, Brian can still write songs. TLOS has a lot of after-the-fact gloss -- but the 10 or so songs at its core are Brian hammering away at a keyboard in Scott Bennett's apartment. From Brian and everyone else's accounts, he had a burst of inspiration in the summer of 06, and he wrote and recorded 18 or so songs. Good Kind of Love -- BW only, music and lyrics. Ditto for Just Like Me and You. The bonus tracks especially show Brian still a creative force. Scott helped, of course, but very little of what Scott has written and recorded on his own sounds like TLOS (bits of MAD aside -- and for such a terrific song, I'll make that exception).

I'm encouraged by this clay, but do you mind me asking what you base your assertions on? Its still kinda hard for me to accept Brian as a creative force, even though I don't think his gift will ever die, just maybe sink below the surface a it.

[Wirestone]

I simply go by what people say. And I know that's not always kosher in the BB/BW world, but a lot of sources have confirmed the basic facts. In the summer of 2006, while Melinda and the kids were away, Brian wanted to record some songs and called Scott because he had a studio set up in his apartment. They recorded a lot that summer.

It's also my understanding Scott wrote little of the music per se -- he generally added or revised lyrics to tunes that Brian brought over. He did, however, arrange most of Mexican Girl and totally revamp Midnight's Another Day, which seems to have originally been a rock tune. You can hear most of this on the demos, which have been leaked. Brian is pounding keyboards on most songs and sings a lot of backing vocals and most leads. Scott sings some backing vocals (and a lead here and there) and adds extra instrumentation.

These demos sound like BW songs, pure and simple. Quirky lyrics and wacky basslines are all over. The bonus tracks from TLOS come from those basic demo sessions, and if anything, they're better than many songs that made it in.

Brian was then commissioned to do write a suite in 2007 -- but he didn't do it. He played with some ideas, but he didn't end up following through on any of them. With the deadline looming, he asked Scott about going back to that 2006 material to fashion a suite from. Scott and Darian then put the album together; Van Dyke was called in toward the end to add the narration. So Brian had almost nothing to do with the final sequencing of the piece -- and everyone has also pretty much admitted that. (I think his one addition was "Southern California," which came so late in the process that it was performed as piano and vocals only.)

So it depends on what you mean by musical force. Did TLOS, as released, flow from Brian's brain as a piece? No. Did he arrange the strings and horns? No. But the core of songs on the album, as well as the re-arrangement of TLOS (the song), come from Brian. The basics of the arrangements come from the demos.

Brian's band is exceptionally sensitive to any charges of exploitation. Recall what happened to Andy Paley and Joe Thomas. They collaborated, and then they were gone. No one in the band worked with Brian for the first seven years in songwriting (that we know of). The only way that a collaboration would happen is if Brian took the initiative. And he eventually did.

Brian Wilson:

Scott Bennett said you worked out the songs at his home studio. Did you arrive with the songs fully fleshed out, or did you work them out at his studio?
I wrote the songs. Then, when I got to Scott’s studio, he and I played around with the arrangements.

Scott Bennett:

Brian would typically say, “Gimme a click.” Then, he would start pounding on the Kurzweil. He would invariably dial up the Honky Tonk preset, because he likes that fat key sound. We would pound out a tune, and then add a guide vocal. Nine times out of ten, he did great vocal parts. There are a lot of final vocals on the album that came from my home studio, including “Good Kind of Love,” “Midnight’s Another Day,” and “Morning Beat.”

Interviewer: Tell me more about how you two wrote songs in your studio?
I never knew what the day would bring. Brian might show up and say, “Let’s do ‘Proud Mary’ today.” We did 19 songs at my house—ten of which appear on the record. We also did “Something Tells Me I’m Into Something Good,” which didn’t make it.

It was just this magical summer of us cranking stuff out. Brian was really on fire with lots of specific ideas. On “California Role,” he dictated that exact drum beat.

Those come from an EQ magazine piece on the sessions.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Scott and Darian then put the album together; Van Dyke was called in toward the end to add the narration. So Brian had almost nothing to do with the final sequencing of the piece -- and everyone has also pretty much admitted that.

TLOS was sequenced by Darian & Scott in LA while Brian was on tour in Europe during June/July of 2007.

[Wirestone]

Which explains how cool bits like "Can't Wait Too Long" and the mow-mama-yama-holy-halleujah chant got included, I've assumed.

I also don't want to understate how important Scott was to this process. He contributed when the songs needed him to contribute (or when the results, like MAD, speak for themselves), and stayed out when the songs were fine as is.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Which explains how cool bits like "Can't Wait Too Long" and the mow-mama-yama-holy-halleujah chant got included, I've assumed.

The former was, I believe, Darian's notion. Resurrecting the "Clangin'" chant* came from someone else entirely.

[* see Rolling Stone #225, 11/4/76]

[Andrew G. Doe]

I also don't want to understate how important Scott was to this process. He contributed when the songs needed him to contribute (or when the results, like MAD, speak for themselves), and stayed out when the songs were fine as is.

Scotty also contributed the all-important comfortable working environment. When Brian's comfortable, and the static is at a low or non-existant level, great things can result.

[TdHabib]

Which explains how cool bits like "Can't Wait Too Long" and the mow-mama-yama-holy-halleujah chant got included, I've assumed.

The former was, I believe, Darian's notion. Resurrecting the "Clangin'" chant* came from someone else entirely.

[* see Rolling Stone #225, 11/4/76]

Absolutely, Darian admitted it was he in the NPR radio interview.