Brian's favourite music

[Ron]

About "that Lovin' Feeling"

There's an old tape somebody posted up on this board (it's a link to youtube) from the early 90's of Brian meeting Bruce Johnston and somebody else (possibly Al, or Jeff Foskett?) in a hotel lobby, and all of them a little inebriated playing songs on the piano.  When they start playing "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" Brian goes crazy, I would certainly think that's probably one of his favorites. 

[Chocolate Shake Man]

I wonder what Brian was listening to in the Smile era. What often gets overlooked (in the name of the Beach Boys vs. The Beatles debate) is the place that The Beach Boys had in the LA scene. How did Brian see himself in relation to, say, The Byrds, Love, Buffalo Springfield, The Yellow Balloon, The Association, Harper's Bizarre or even obscure groups like, say, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band or The Peanut Butter Conspiracy. I mention this because just from listening to the material it seems that Brian took on very seriously the role of the artist in representing his place - whether that be the local surf scene or his place in the grander, American narrative.

[hypehat]

I know that one of the bands he namechecks in an interview reprinted in LLVS is The Lovin' Spoonful. Also obvious, but I think it's around this time he actually learned to play Rhapsody in Blue, possibly off the Bernstein recording, so that had to have been an influence.

[JK]

From "There's a Lot of Love in It",  Paul Williams' interview with Brian on December 4, 1995. In PW, How Deep Is The Ocean?, pp. 164-165.

BRIAN: I have a Kenny G album, his Christmas song album----have you heard it?
PAUL: No.
BRIAN: It's great. Really good. And then it starts skipping on this song, so my wife's gonna fix it tonight.

[Ron]

lol.  Brian doesn't know how CD's work.  That's cute. 

[buddhahat]

In an interview he said his favorite rolling stones song is "my obsession" which threw me off.

My Obsession was a big influence on Fire and Fall Breaks and all the associated stuff, as far as I'm aware. Just listen how similar it is. It was quite a revelation when a poster pointed this out recently and I listened again to the Stones track. I think it was a huge influence on some of the Smile music, Dada included!

The My Bloody Valentine quote is brilliant. Great to think Brian is (or was at least) into stuff that cool.

[bossaroo]

Burt Bacharach - Not sure which songs

probably all of them. huge influence

Walk On By and Little Red Book were covered. and a half-assed attempt at Are You There.
any others?

[anazgnos]

I wonder what Brian was listening to in the Smile era. What often gets overlooked (in the name of the Beach Boys vs. The Beatles debate) is the place that The Beach Boys had in the LA scene. How did Brian see himself in relation to, say, The Byrds, Love, Buffalo Springfield, The Yellow Balloon, The Association, Harper's Bizarre or even obscure groups like, say, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band or The Peanut Butter Conspiracy. I mention this because just from listening to the material it seems that Brian took on very seriously the role of the artist in representing his place - whether that be the local surf scene or his place in the grander, American narrative.

Isn't there a period interview in LLVS where Brian's talking about a lot of other contemporary acts?  I seem to recall him coming across as pretty plugged-in.

[puni puni]

Quote from Brian
"WOW! I LOVE Kevin Shields! Loveless just blew me away. Knocked me clean outta my keds!"
Qmagazine
October 1996

I absolutely need a scan of this

[Cabinessenceking]

no one has mentioned The Drifters yet?

Ruby Baby and On Broadway were covered, but I'll bet Bri liked Under The Boardwalk, Save The Last Dance For Me and There Goes My Baby as well...
Has he ever commented on them?

[smilethebeachboysloveyou]

In an interview he said his favorite rolling stones song is "my obsession" which threw me off.

My Obsession was a big influence on Fire and Fall Breaks and all the associated stuff, as far as I'm aware. Just listen how similar it is. It was quite a revelation when a poster pointed this out recently and I listened again to the Stones track. I think it was a huge influence on some of the Smile music, Dada included!

The My Bloody Valentine quote is brilliant. Great to think Brian is (or was at least) into stuff that cool.

That's interesting.  On the very brief liner notes that he wrote for Classics Selected by Brian Wilson, he said that "Marcella" was the first song he wrote that was influenced by the Rolling Stones.

[Smilin Ed H]

"ISTR Brian saying he liked Carole King's Tapestry album somewhere."

Listen to Natural Born Woman then to Pacific Coast Highway.

I'm sure I've read that he was a big fan of the incidental music for Laurel and Hardy.

[Summer_Days]

Some of Brian's favorite albums:

Four Freshmen and Five Trombones by The Four Freshmen
Freshmen Favorites by The Four Freshmen
A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector by various
Rubber Soul by The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles
Sail Away by Randy Newman

[Rocky Raccoon]

Some of Brian's favorite albums:

Four Freshmen and Five Trombones by The Four Freshmen
Freshmen Favorites by The Four Freshmen
A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector by various
Rubber Soul by The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles
Sail Away by Randy Newman

I'll add "Between the Buttons" by the Rolling Stones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7cGd-2C_gQ

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Did Brian really like Sgt. Pepper's? He never seemed that thrilled about it, except when he was in the bean bag chair.

[Summer_Days]

I know he loved 'She's Leaving Home' and was blown out by 'A Day In The Life' and beams proudly about Pet Sounds influencing Sgt. Pepper, so...i dunno, I just assumed he dug the album.

[I. Spaceman]

OF COURSE Brian loves Sgt. Pepper. We know that from 2:30 into this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5taTzrv400

[Chocolate Shake Man]

OF COURSE Brian loves Sgt. Pepper. We know that from 2:30 into this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5taTzrv400

 

Yeah, that's what I was incorrectly trying to allude to when I mentioned the bean bag chair. I just didn't want to actually watch that clip again to confirm whether I was right or wrong.

[smilethebeachboysloveyou]

Did Brian really like Sgt. Pepper's? He never seemed that thrilled about it, except when he was in the bean bag chair.

He wrote the introduction to a book about The Beatles a few years back and cited that as his favorite album.  Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the book.

[smilethebeachboysloveyou]

Found it!  It's The Beatles: Ten Years That Shook the World.

[Summer_Days]

Curse you, Spaceman. You got me into watching a few clips of Summer Dreams, which I had heretofore never watched. UGH, makes An American Band look like the gospel truth.

ANYWAY. Brian must've like 'Gimme Some Lovin'' by the Spencer Davis Group and 'Baby I Need Your Lovin'' by the Four Tops since he smashed the two together back in the early '70s. Turns out he started the whole mashup craze long before Danger Mouse was even in diapers.

[Don Malcolm]

Re: "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling". After listening to Brian's unreleased version of it, tend to think it's better than the original by The Righteous Bros. And better done than "Just Once In My Life" - another song by those Brothers imo. Your mileage can be varied, of course.

Don't know if it's better than the original, but it's certainly a wonderful version and let's hope that it might yet see an official release on that "career-spanning box set" that's due in the next couple of months.

[JK]

he mentions Rosemary Clooney all the time.  He likes Nat King Cole a lot too.  

Do you know of any specific songs?

Brian actually attended Rosemary Clooney's funeral if you can believe that.  Brian liked her version of "When You Wish Upon a Star". 

Didn't Audree own some Rosemary Clooney records? I seem to remember reading somewhere that Brian's singing along with them had some effect on the lack of a break in his voice through to the falsetto range. And maybe it was Ms. Clooney's version of "WYWUAS" that was on Brian's mind when he wrote "Surfer Girl"...   

[Matt Bielewicz]

Quote from Brian
"WOW! I LOVE Kevin Shields! Loveless just blew me away. Knocked me clean outta my keds!"
Qmagazine
October 1996

Is this a joke? I want to believe it, though.

I read that and thought "WHAT???". And then I realised that I had that actual issue of Q on a bookshelf behind my head as I was reading the thread. I wanted to believe it too... but I'm sorry to say that I can't find *any* quotes from Brian anywhere in that issue of the mag, much less one about MBV.

On the other hand, perhaps I just missed it. Anyone remember what kind of article it was in?

On the other other hand, perhaps it's an urban myth. It does sound a *bit* too good to be true...

[Orange Crate Art]

There was an interview during the 70s where Brian said he loved George Harrison's and Ringo's solo stuff.