New album info (as it rolls out...)

[The Heartical Don]

I haven't heard Adult/Child, but I see a very clear connection between Love You and BW88. The same kind of funky, thick basslines, simple lyrical themes, and just plain fun melodies. BW88 seems like Love You part II to these ears. They're also both albums I wouldn't want my friends to catch me listening to.

To each his own, then.

I find them very different soundwise. Love You is basic, BBs in 'punk' mode. Only one or some synths on each track, primitive drums, a horn and some surf guitar here and there, and mostly very coarse vocals. Still: broad stereo, good dynamics.

BW88: overdone, odd compressed production (perhaps an influence of Jeff Lynne's?), way too much typically '80s syndrums (sometimes doubletracked), thin layers of vocals, and most of the tracks sound too crowded anyway to these ears.

Summary: Love You IS the BBs at that time, BW88 WAS MADE to sound like the BBs of yore.

[Runaways]

probably the main reason i haven't sat down and listened to BW88 is the production and his voice.  there's just the overwhelming attack of compressed 80s production and it hurts my ears

[The Heartical Don]

probably the main reason i haven't sat down and listened to BW88 is the production and his voice.  there's just the overwhelming attack of compressed 80s production and it hurts my ears

Yep. I can just about stand my vinyl copy via cans.

[Wirestone]

Fishmonk, that was an excellent post. And your interpretation of Brian's late-60s stuff is very interesting. Personally, I can't help but think the change in credit from "Produced by Brian Wilson" to "Produced by the Beach Boys" carries enormous import. And as involved as Brian was in many of those records, I've tended to think that he was making a different kind of music then, something that was purposefully anti-commercial. When 15BO, Love You and Adult Child come along, Brian (in my opinion) was once again trying to be broadly appealing. He had changed, and was already (at least in 15BO) purposefully trying to re-create his 60s sound (Palisades Park, anyone?)

As far as Carl's influence on the Love You release -- I simply mention it because I think it weakens one of your main points. That is, that Brian had a clear and traceable creative direction that he understood as such. He may have had such an idea for the record at one point, but he did not follow it through -- he was unwilling or incapable of doing so. People who are proud of their work as a producer and want to create a complete album don't just abandon the recording process when semi-usable takes of several songs have been tracked. Likewise, in Adult Child, Brian comes up with the big band concept -- and uses it for only three tracks. He loses interest and fills the rest of the record with old songs or demo-like productions.

Again, the point is not that Brian doesn't have a creative vision in the 70s -- it's that he really can't fulfill it on his own. And I think this is a critical point, because it hugely influences how I see Brian's creative trajectory in the 80s through today. What's more, I see his creative journey over the last 30 years as being quite traceable (if not always consistent or self-directed) and of a piece with his output since the 70s. I will return to this point.

The same is true for the last decade of his solo albums, they seem to largely ignore what Brian did between 1968 and 1977. It's like they skip over that whole decade and look back at 1965 and 1966 more than anything else. It just doesn't appear to be logical if that makes sense.

I don't think that's quite true. At least not with the Moog synths on TLOS and the Disney record, the very Love You sound of the TLOS bonus tracks, and a bunch of other things. But Brian is also not being called on to release an album a year by a record company thrilled to put out whatever he gives them. That means he has to tailor his album-length output to the deals his folks make. And that often includes a certain retro component.

It's a sense of craftsmanship as a producer, of deduction and refinement. I don't care what direction he would have gone in or what his records would have sounded like had he kept producing them, I think we all would be able to sense the type of derivation I'm talking about.

I simply don't agree with you here. Brian has always been less-than-perfectionist (witness the shoddy original mix of Pet Sounds), and "deduction and refinement" are subjective. The Gershwin album does sound refined and crafted to these ears, and I think that was largely Brian's doing. And I don't know if "we all would have been able to sense" what you say.

Tastes change, and our sense of history changes. Making records has a political dimension. And what listeners hear changes by the decade. 15 Big Ones, for instance, is in the midst of being reassessed -- after years of loathing. Imagination was rethought after the release of GIOMH. BW88, after years of criticism for the synths, has been rehabilitated thanks to the reissue. And even Pet Sounds and Smile are being rethought -- with many superfans (like yourself) calling attention to the albums that immediately followed. The point is that fan reaction is an imperfect barometer -- at best -- to understanding the actual creative process behind any particular album. Take 15 Big Ones -- accounts about its origin suggest it was just as "forced" on Brian as any project from the 80s to today. Yet enough time has passed that we no longer mind that the 1975 Brian was pressured to turn out a BB comeback record. Time heals all.

That's why Love You just sounds so right to us fans, it's supremely logical in terms of Brian Wilson the producer and artist.

Why does art have to be logical? Surely part of being an artist is upending logic. I mean, what does "Party" have to do with "Pet Sounds"? How do those two things logically connect, besides both being by Brian Wilson? It's a bigger distance between those two records than between the glossy AC of "Imagination" and the '50s retro vibe of GIOMH. So why is the difference between the first two evidence of Brian's genius and the difference between the second evidence that he now lacks an artistic soul?

The music he's been involved with over the last 20 or 30 years is music without a history without a past without meaning or context.

I have a hard time understanding how we can say that his current music is too reminiscent of mid-60s Beach Boys records and then call it "music without a history without a past." I understand that you're underlining your basic point -- that Brian's presence is simply not that audible in his recent work -- but that doesn't mean his current work is lacking a past. If anything, you should be arguing that it has too much of a past!

Had Brian continued to develop, I think his work would end up meaning a whole lot more.

I find Brian's solo work to be the most meaningful part of his output, at least to me personally. Folks' mileage varies here.

And that's what I desperately wish we could hear on this album, rather than an 'executive producer' credit in the liner notes.

According to the original press release, Mike is the executive producer and Brian is the producer on the new record. (Probyn Gregory suggested Joe Thomas was EP, so that may have changed.)

Anyway, this is fun! I'm planning a separate post that outlines Brian's creative journey from the beginning of the second Landy period to the present -- and I hope it might fill in some empty spaces for you on this. I think the evolution of BW for the last 30 years can be followed pretty easily -- it's just that you have to do it through interviews and obscure tracks. But it's there.

[The Shift]

According to the original press release, Mike is the executive producer and Brian is the producer on the new record. (Probyn Gregory suggested Joe Thomas was EP, so that may have changed.)

I'm struggling to find that interview online anymore. I wondered at the time whether Probyn had been a little too frank in being so honest and open, and whether the publishing website has been asked to remove it.  If anyone knows different, I'll happy be contradicted.  Welcome it, in fact.

[b00ts]

EDIT: Well, I said that I would delete the post if anyone had a problem with it. The last thing I want to do is cause trouble for our beloved Beach Boys! To anyone who thinks this is censorship: I volunteered to delete the post if there were any problems with it, so yes, it is self-censorship.

[Runaways]

i'd like to hear what brian says about "that's why god made the radio"

[joshferrell]

Interviewer:So Brian tell us about "that's why God made the radio."
Brian: I don't know why he created the radio,I guess so people can hear music
Interviewer:I mean the song
Brian:what song?
Interviewer:"that's why God made the radio"
Brian: what radio? you mean that one? (points to his living room stereo)
Interviewer:The song
Brian:there are so many songs,my favorite is "be my baby"
Interviewer:No I mean the song you wrote about God creating the radio
Brian:God created the radio? how can that be I thought a person invented it
Interviewer:No the song
Brian: people create songs too..
Interviewer:I mean the single
Brian: no I'm married
Interviewer:No the song about God creating the radio that is on your new cd
Brian:I don't have a new cd, you mean the disney cd?
Interviewer:no the new beach boys one
Brian: the greatest hits package?
Interviewer:no the NEW one
Brian: oh you mean postcards from california? the beach boys sang on that one.
Interviewer:no the actual beach boys cd
Brian:oh yeah it's good,sounds real mellow
Interviewer:so what about the song about God creating the radio
Brian:yeah there are many mellow songs since God created the radio
Interviewer:AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!! (the end)

[Nicko1234]

I don`t think there`s too much that`s inexplicable about Brian`s work from the mid-70s onwards.

For 15BO and LY he went back to those oldies and recorded children`s songs because they were comfortable for him in his fragile mental state. He showed periods of enthusiasm for LY and Adult/Child because that`s another symptom of mental illness... Spells of feverish activity before losing interest. It happened again very briefly for KTSA I guess.

As for the music, in the 70s he used the Moog because it was there and by the 80s music had moved onto the Synth. Loads of empty headed fools were over-using it so no surprise that Brian`s people were happy for him to do the same. When he returned in the 90s that fad had passed and the people he was working with clearly knew it. Throughout Brian`s solo career the role of the people he has worked with can`t be underestimated.

[Dunderhead]

I don`t think there`s too much that`s inexplicable about Brian`s work from the mid-70s onwards.

For 15BO and LY he went back to those oldies and recorded children`s songs because they were comfortable for him in his fragile mental state. He showed periods of enthusiasm for LY and Adult/Child because that`s another symptom of mental illness... Spells of feverish activity before losing interest. It happened again very briefly for KTSA I guess.

As for the music, in the 70s he used the Moog because it was there and by the 80s music had moved onto the Synth. Loads of empty headed fools were over-using it so no surprise that Brian`s people were happy for him to do the same. When he returned in the 90s that fad had passed and the people he was working with clearly knew it. Throughout Brian`s solo career the role of the people he has worked with can`t be underestimated.

I wouldn't agree with this necessarily. It's too easy an interpretation of the lyrical content of Love You. Examining Brian's lyrical themes presents an unfortunate challenge as he so rarely assumed this obligation. You can go back quite a long way in an effort to provide greater context to the lyrics of the Love You songs. I'm Bugged At My Old Man is one of the earlier songs attributed to Brian Wilson solely. Are those lyrics so far removed from what Brian was writing in 1976? How about Busy Doin' Nothing? Or the songs he worked on during the Sunflower period like Games Two Can Play. Irony is crucial to understanding Brian Wilson the lyricist and the role of irony on Love You should not be underestimated.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Well, it appears "Read it Later" has come in handy for me... Here is the Probyn interview in its entirety. I doubt that the interview was taken down for any real reason, i.e. BRI being unhappy with it. If that's the case though, and someone from BRI is reading this, just PM me and I will delete this post.

This interview was taken down for a very good reason, so I feel your reposting it in full isn't going to be at all helpful bearing in mind that 9especially now) all related boards are monitored regularly. Suggest you delete this ASAP.

[NatureShowInStereo]

Well, it appears "Read it Later" has come in handy for me... Here is the Probyn interview in its entirety. I doubt that the interview was taken down for any real reason, i.e. BRI being unhappy with it. If that's the case though, and someone from BRI is reading this, just PM me and I will delete this post.

This interview was taken down for a very good reason, so I feel your reposting it in full isn't going to be at all helpful bearing in mind that 9especially now) all related boards are monitored regularly. Suggest you delete this ASAP.

Are we allowed to have an explanation? Seems kind of ridiculous seeing as it was a good interview. Probyn gave honest answers and that's the only thing I could see anyone getting their knickers in a twist about. I just don't get it. Either way, I've got it saved just in case we'll never get to see it again.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Well, it appears "Read it Later" has come in handy for me... Here is the Probyn interview in its entirety. I doubt that the interview was taken down for any real reason, i.e. BRI being unhappy with it. If that's the case though, and someone from BRI is reading this, just PM me and I will delete this post.

This interview was taken down for a very good reason, so I feel your reposting it in full isn't going to be at all helpful bearing in mind that 9especially now) all related boards are monitored regularly. Suggest you delete this ASAP.

Are we allowed to have an explanation? Seems kind of ridiculous seeing as it was a good interview. Probyn gave honest answers and that's the only thing I could see anyone getting their knickers in a twist about. I just don't get it. Either way, I've got it saved just in case we'll never get to see it again.

"Probyn gave honest answers and that's the only thing I could see anyone getting their knickers in a twist about."

Congratulations - you just answered your own question. 

[Aegir]

The only thing I can see some of Brian's people not being too happy about is the Tonto thing. but if it was just one or two problems they didn't have to take down the whole interview.

[The Shift]

Well, it appears "Read it Later" has come in handy for me... Here is the Probyn interview in its entirety.

Sincere thanks b00ts…

Not sure what Andrew's alluded-to "reason" for its removal was…

BRI/EMI/Capitol whoever asking for a contentious, inaccurate, libelous (insert another reason here) post by a fan to be removed is one thing; having what appears to be a legitimate interview taken down, without reason, has a smear of press censorship about it.

That said, I'm not finding a lot of detail about the site that the interview was posted on.

Any reason you're able to share please, Andrew?  Even in a PM…

[NatureShowInStereo]

Well, it appears "Read it Later" has come in handy for me... Here is the Probyn interview in its entirety. I doubt that the interview was taken down for any real reason, i.e. BRI being unhappy with it. If that's the case though, and someone from BRI is reading this, just PM me and I will delete this post.

This interview was taken down for a very good reason, so I feel your reposting it in full isn't going to be at all helpful bearing in mind that 9especially now) all related boards are monitored regularly. Suggest you delete this ASAP.

Are we allowed to have an explanation? Seems kind of ridiculous seeing as it was a good interview. Probyn gave honest answers and that's the only thing I could see anyone getting their knickers in a twist about. I just don't get it. Either way, I've got it saved just in case we'll never get to see it again.

"Probyn gave honest answers and that's the only thing I could see anyone getting their knickers in a twist about."

Congratulations - you just answered your own question.  

lol woohoo!

That's still pretty lame, imo. Heaven forbid the guy has his own point of view and opinions. There wasn't anything real damaging, hurtful, or bad in the interview from what I could tell. I still love the Beach Boys, I'm still buying the new cd, and I still have my tickets for the tour. Taking that interview down just seems to me like a bunch of unnecessary work and effort over practically nothing. It's like punishing a child for saying "crap" or something.

[18thofMay]

If anyone has seen Dom Priore's post on Facebook recently, it could spark some controversy!!

[Wirestone]

This is the thing about reuniting the Beach Boys. Everything suddenly becomes much higher stakes. More money, more opportunities, more egos to massage. The fact that it's gone so well (i.e., quietly) up to this point is probably due to all the principals keeping things as quiet as possible. Any unapproved messages from the center of things -- even ones that seem harmless and fun -- are probably seen as damaging to a carefully constructed equilibrium.

[Alex]

If anyone has seen Dom Priore's post on Facebook recently, it could spark some controversy!!

I love Mr. Priore's/Dom's/whatever he prefers to be called's books, and admire his passion for Smile...It pains me to say this, but it looks like he's still on his damn "Smile was one or two sessions away from being finished" trip. Seems like he'd be a pretty interesting guy to meet in person, though...I'd bet one could debate SMiLE to the death with him.

[18thofMay]

If anyone has seen Dom Priore's post on Facebook recently, it could spark some controversy!!

I love Mr. Priore's/Dom's/whatever he prefers to be called's books, and admire his passion for Smile...It pains me to say this, but it looks like he's still on his damn "Smile was one or two sessions away from being finished" trip. Seems like he'd be a pretty interesting guy to meet in person, though...I'd bet one could debate SMiLE to the death with him.

Brian had it in the can...

[stack-o-tracks]

Tell the people who don't Facebook what that post is! I did some creepin' on Google but apparently can't look at his wall if I'm not signed into the account I don't have . 

[Lowbacca]

Interviewer:So Brian tell us about "that's why God made the radio."
Brian: I don't know why he created the radio,I guess so people can hear music
Interviewer:I mean the song
Brian:what song?
Interviewer:"that's why God made the radio"
Brian: what radio? you mean that one? (points to his living room stereo)
Interviewer:The song
Brian:there are so many songs,my favorite is "be my baby"
Interviewer:No I mean the song you wrote about God creating the radio
Brian:God created the radio? how can that be I thought a person invented it
Interviewer:No the song
Brian: people create songs too..
Interviewer:I mean the single
Brian: no I'm married
Interviewer:No the song about God creating the radio that is on your new cd
Brian:I don't have a new cd, you mean the disney cd?
Interviewer:no the new beach boys one
Brian: the greatest hits package?
Interviewer:no the NEW one
Brian: oh you mean postcards from california? the beach boys sang on that one.
Interviewer:no the actual beach boys cd
Brian:oh yeah it's good,sounds real mellow
Interviewer:so what about the song about God creating the radio
Brian:yeah there are many mellow songs since God created the radio
Interviewer:AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!! (the end)

[LostArt]

Well, it appears "Read it Later" has come in handy for me... Here is the Probyn interview in its entirety. I doubt that the interview was taken down for any real reason, i.e. BRI being unhappy with it. If that's the case though, and someone from BRI is reading this, just PM me and I will delete this post.

This interview was taken down for a very good reason, so I feel your reposting it in full isn't going to be at all helpful bearing in mind that 9especially now) all related boards are monitored regularly. Suggest you delete this ASAP.

The words that I've bolded and colored are the words that concern me.  I get the 'freedom of speech' argument, but I get the impression that this interview caused some grief among certain folks.  I wouldn't want there to be any problems either within the band, or with management because these words are again out there for all to see.  Here's another vote to please delete.  We now know that there are people here who have saved this interview, so if you haven't read it, perhaps you could PM the poster who posted it.  If you have read it, you shouldn't care if it's deleted. 

[The Shift]

Well, it appears "Read it Later" has come in handy for me... Here is the Probyn interview in its entirety. I doubt that the interview was taken down for any real reason, i.e. BRI being unhappy with it. If that's the case though, and someone from BRI is reading this, just PM me and I will delete this post.

This interview was taken down for a very good reason, so I feel your reposting it in full isn't going to be at all helpful bearing in mind that 9especially now) all related boards are monitored regularly. Suggest you delete this ASAP.

The words that I've bolded and colored are the words that concern me.  I get the 'freedom of speech' argument, but I get the impression that this interview caused some grief among certain folks.  I wouldn't want there to be any problems either within the band, or with management because these words are again out there for all to see.  Here's another vote to please delete.  We now know that there are people here who have saved this interview, so if you haven't read it, perhaps you could PM the poster who posted it.   

The Beach Boys have experienced, let's see… physically and psychologically abusive parenting, drug addiction, alcoholism, death by cancer, death by drowning, nervous breakdowns, law suits, group sex, estrangement, infidelity, divorce, abusive doctors, mental illness, and plenty more.

I hope that, by now, their hides are tough enough to deal with a little honesty in an interview by a fellow musician, one who's very much admired and respected by their fans.

Just my 2p-worth.

[Autotune]

Well, it appears "Read it Later" has come in handy for me... Here is the Probyn interview in its entirety. I doubt that the interview was taken down for any real reason, i.e. BRI being unhappy with it. If that's the case though, and someone from BRI is reading this, just PM me and I will delete this post.

This interview was taken down for a very good reason, so I feel your reposting it in full isn't going to be at all helpful bearing in mind that 9especially now) all related boards are monitored regularly. Suggest you delete this ASAP.

The words that I've bolded and colored are the words that concern me.  I get the 'freedom of speech' argument, but I get the impression that this interview caused some grief among certain folks.  I wouldn't want there to be any problems either within the band, or with management because these words are again out there for all to see.  Here's another vote to please delete.  We now know that there are people here who have saved this interview, so if you haven't read it, perhaps you could PM the poster who posted it.   

The Beach Boys have experienced, let's see… physically and psychologically abusive parenting, drug addiction, alcoholism, death by cancer, death by drowning, nervous breakdowns, law suits, group sex, estrangement, infidelity, divorce, abusive doctors, mental illness, and plenty more.

I hope that, by now, their hides are tough enough to deal with a little honesty in an interview by a fellow musician, one who's very much admired and respected by their fans.

Just my 2p-worth.

Probyn is an employee (or a hired musician for that matter)... it's understandable if Brian's people claim control over what their employees talk publicly.