Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight

[runnersdialzero]

I'm surprised to see people had mullets back in 1962

[hypehat]

Why does this seem so awkward? It's like they're being interrogated.

[Lowbacca]

Why does this seem so awkward? It's like they're being interrogated.

I didn't see it that way. It's 5 guys together in a room who have a history of personal battles, stuff they probably don't want to talk about and there are various topics they have different opinions about. I think everybody's being cautious as to what they say and where the discussion goes. But apart from that.. a great, candid interview. Way less awkward than the average Brian solo interview. I enjoyed it very much.

[runnersdialzero]

I don't know about awkward, but I'm gonna guess this took place pretty early on in the day. Everyone seems a bit tired, that's all.

[hypehat]

Yeah, it got MUCH more relaxed - I just got that from the first five minutes, but they loosened up.


They all say they haven't heard the album?! Are they kidding? I really don't understand that, and makes me really, really wonder. They're not calling the shots on their own record!

[runnersdialzero]

They all say they haven't heard the album?! Are they kidding? I really don't understand that, and makes me really, really wonder. They're not calling the shots on their own record!

Welcome to 2012

[pixletwin]

Awesome. Thanks for linking the interview. I loved the quote from Brian about Exuberance vs. Melancholy.

[hypehat]

They all say they haven't heard the album?! Are they kidding? I really don't understand that, and makes me really, really wonder. They're not calling the shots on their own record!

Welcome to 2012

 

[Lowbacca]

The 2012 live footage they showed might be a teaser as to how some of the material on the eventual tour DVD will look like.

[runnersdialzero]

The 2012 live footage they showed might be a teaser as to how some of the material on the eventual tour DVD will look like.

I was wondering this, too. The vocals on the "That's Why God" live clip they played sounded a lot like the studio version vocals, but the instrumentation sounded different. Not accusing them of teh dreaded lip-syncing, I know they're not, but I'm wondering if it actually is the studio version vocals and the edit was made for some kind of release.

[runnersdialzero]

They all say they haven't heard the album?! Are they kidding? I really don't understand that, and makes me really, really wonder. They're not calling the shots on their own record!

Welcome to 2012

 

True story. This is not the only recent example I can think of where an album is coming out and the people who perform on it have yet to see or hear it, sometimes not even knowing what songs are on it, until shortly before it's released.

[runnersdialzero]

The Smile segments seemed much less tense than a couple other folks let on. That's me, I guess, but the entire group laughed when the "makes Pet Sounds stink" quote was read to them. Al's interruption about "Surf's Up" (with Mike saying "Oh, it's beautiful!" when Al first starts in, too) was the only semi-serious part of it, but aside from that I got no tense vibes or anything. Just me, though.

Other thoughts: Al's "I'd like to do this every two years" thing gives me a bit of hope. For the guys to just call it a day and go back to their respective solo careers wouldn't be my ideal choice. I also would like to think this would prevent the "Al releases an album every 20 years, Mike releases a single every five years" thing and would keep everyone more active.

Also, the recordings sound pretty good, albeit obviously keeping in mind the quality here isn't the best. Still. Band sounds great, vocals sound great, mix sounds pretty good (even Jeff's voice blends a lot better when it's mixed at appropriate levels - who woulda thunk?), and eijtq39-h89-gu

Three posts in a row. I win at life.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

They all say they haven't heard the album?! Are they kidding? I really don't understand that, and makes me really, really wonder. They're not calling the shots on their own record!

Welcome to 2012

 

True story. This is not the only recent example I can think of where an album is coming out and the people who perform on it have yet to see or hear it, sometimes not even knowing what songs are on it, until shortly before it's released.

May I just say this to that:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,12286.msg269972.html#msg269972

[runnersdialzero]

May I just say this to that:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,12286.msg269972.html#msg269972

Obviously we don't know the full extent of what's going on, but about a week ago Brian was surprised when presented the album cover on TV, and the guys said here that they hadn't heard the finished album. It's probably nowhere near as dire a situation as I described in my last post, but it's still slightly odd for them to have not heard the finished album yet. "The label picks the songs" doesn't mean you have to remain clueless to these things, I'd hope.

[Rocker]

Here's something from the interview that hasn't been discussed. I'm going from memory here...

Charlie posed a question, referring to the new single, I believe...using words like "How did "TWGMTR" come about?", as if he expected a response that it was written in the back seat of the car while listening to the radio in five minutes, or that there was some other explanation nothing short of genius.

Brian's answer was concise... "Joe Thomas".

Now, after having seen it it doesn't sound that "bad" anymore. Rose asks Brian about where the title of the song came from after Mike was talking that it is a nice title. They were talking about the song title at that point

[startBBtoday]

Just finished watching, I didn't sense any awkwardness at all really. So many great personalities in that band. It's really fun to see them all talking and laughing together. You can tell how much they do admire Brian. Just from how much they'll laugh at what he says.

[guitarfool2002]

First: Very, *very* happy to see it finally posted on Rose's website. It's about time! This is a must-see interview for those who missed it Friday night.

Second: Having a true group interview like this is not only rare, but it will bring up and bring out certain issues that maybe not all members agree - but in the case of this interview, it was handled well and it seemed to be relaxed overall. I did get the impression several times that the other members looked to Brian several times on several issues, and he still seemed to have that aura of leadership. The man didn't need to talk too much or say too many words, but if you noticed several times when he did speak everyone was paying attention. So it seemed to me.

Third: Not hearing an album in full after the final mixes have been delivered to whoever gets them at the record company or the mastering house is *not unusual*, in fact it is standard practice.

Please try not to read too much into this stuff: A record needs to be sent away for mastering, and unless the band or producer specifically requests that they be present as it is being prepared, the artist and producer(s) and everyone else will not hear the final result until it is fully mastered, then it gets approved again.

One of the reasons is that most people in the music business including artists and producers don't have a clue on how to master or what goes into the process when done at a professional level. It is a different scene than mixing. And a lot of faith and confidence is put into the mastering engineer...because at that point, often the artist is out of the nuts-and-bolts work being done.

So, essentially, it is nothing new (remember Mike Nesmith first hearing his own band's album More Of The Monkees when he walked into a record shop on tour somewhere in 1967?), and the post-production process being what it is would make it very logical that a band having finished a group of songs and mixed them would still not have heard the end result until everything including mastering has been done.

Again, great to see the Rose show has finally posted it for all to see.

Now...where is the footage and questions they edited out to make it 30 minutes long? I want *that* stuff...

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Third: Not hearing an album in full after the final mixes have been delivered to whoever gets them at the record company or the mastering house is *not unusual*, in fact it is standard practice.

Yeah, but they said they hadn't even heard the album in sequence. Al suggested he wasn't even sure what was on the album and what wasn't.

So, essentially, it is nothing new (remember Mike Nesmith first hearing his own band's album More Of The Monkees when he walked into a record shop on tour somewhere in 1967?)

Yeah, but the reason we know that story is because it was used as an example to show how The Monkees were different because they initially had no control over what was being put out with their name on it.

There is, however, a pretty good example, such as the Capitol versions of Beatles records. But the band itself didn't like the fact that they had no control over the US releases. It's lucky for Capitol that it was difficult to really mangle and screw-up a collection of Beatles songs but it's also the height of absurdity that they fancied themselves "creative" enough to tinker with what was coming from England.

[guitarfool2002]

Third: Not hearing an album in full after the final mixes have been delivered to whoever gets them at the record company or the mastering house is *not unusual*, in fact it is standard practice.

Yeah, but they said they hadn't even heard the album in sequence. Al suggested he wasn't even sure what was on the album and what wasn't.

So, essentially, it is nothing new (remember Mike Nesmith first hearing his own band's album More Of The Monkees when he walked into a record shop on tour somewhere in 1967?)

Yeah, but the reason we know that story is because it was used as an example to show how The Monkees were different because they initially had no control over what was being put out with their name on it.

There is, however, a pretty good example, such as the Capitol versions of Beatles records. But the band itself didn't like the fact that they had no control over the US releases. It's lucky for Capitol that it was difficult to really mangle and screw-up a collection of Beatles songs but it's also the height of absurdity that they fancied themselves "creative" enough to tinker with what was coming from England.

Yeah, but everything I said regarding the standard procedures of post-production is more of a possibility than the alternative theories being proposed.

And in the past when I have produced and worked on a few albums, in some cases the mastering of the tracks was done and the sequencing was still being changed and juggled around up to and including the stage of the process where the mastered tracks go to the duplication stage, and same with the artwork.

I used the Monkees example as an example, that's all - I won't debate the reasons why they did it.

How about the scene in "This Is Spinal Tap" when the band is soundchecking on a stage and the manager shows up with a case of their new album, "Smell The Glove", and it was the first any of them had seen the black cover?

It's *standard procedure* for this stuff to have happened at various times to various artists, it doesn't mean the band is any less responsible for the content.

Damn.

[guitarfool2002]

First: Very, *very* happy to see it finally posted on Rose's website. It's about time! This is a must-see interview for those who missed it Friday night.

Second: Having a true group interview like this is not only rare, but it will bring up and bring out certain issues that maybe not all members agree - but in the case of this interview, it was handled well and it seemed to be relaxed overall. I did get the impression several times that the other members looked to Brian several times on several issues, and he still seemed to have that aura of leadership. The man didn't need to talk too much or say too many words, but if you noticed several times when he did speak everyone was paying attention. So it seemed to me.

Third: Not hearing an album in full after the final mixes have been delivered to whoever gets them at the record company or the mastering house is *not unusual*, in fact it is standard practice.

Please try not to read too much into this stuff: A record needs to be sent away for mastering, and unless the band or producer specifically requests that they be present as it is being prepared, the artist and producer(s) and everyone else will not hear the final result until it is fully mastered, then it gets approved again.[/size]

One of the reasons is that most people in the music business including artists and producers don't have a clue on how to master or what goes into the process when done at a professional level. It is a different scene than mixing. And a lot of faith and confidence is put into the mastering engineer...because at that point, often the artist is out of the nuts-and-bolts work being done.

So, essentially, it is nothing new (remember Mike Nesmith first hearing his own band's album More Of The Monkees when he walked into a record shop on tour somewhere in 1967?), and the post-production process being what it is would make it very logical that a band having finished a group of songs and mixed them would still not have heard the end result until everything including mastering has been done.

Again, great to see the Rose show has finally posted it for all to see.

Now...where is the footage and questions they edited out to make it 30 minutes long? I want *that* stuff...

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Maybe I just have an idea that was concretized in my head because of certain bands whose standard procedure was to have full control over most aspects of their music - look, for example, at The Beatles who frequently chose not only the running order of the songs but also the photographer of the album, the art design, the packaging, etc. I think it's a shame that The Beach Boys don't have the kind of clout to have that kind of control over their product and instead have the kind of control wherein comparisons to the pre-fabricated, company-controlled Monkees and the entirely fictional group, Spinal Tap are in order.

[endofposts]

The clips from the PBS special didn't look too promising.  Unless that's just some kind of rough overdub mix, it sounds like they're lip-syncing to pre-recorded tracks, as someone on this or another thread already mentioned.  People were complaining about Brian's early tour appearances sounding auto-tuned, but on "Sail On, Sailor," he sounded both auto-tuned and formally double-tracked with himself.  Like Joe Thomas pulled a Joe Thomas and made a live performance sound like some cold, processed studio performance.  Hopefully those clips don't represent what it will sound like (but I wouldn't count on it).

[Austin]

- look, for example, at The Beatles who frequently chose not only the running order of the songs but also the photographer of the album, the art design, the packaging, etc. I think it's a shame that The Beach Boys don't have the kind of clout to have that kind of control over their product and instead have the kind of control wherein comparisons to the pre-fabricated, company-controlled Monkees and the entirely fictional group, Spinal Tap are in order.

I'll bet it's not having "the kind of clout" so much as simply not caring. How many 50 year old bands do you know who want an artistic say in every aspect of the process? If the Beach Boys really wanted significant input on their album art, they'd get it.

I know this board is catered to people who like details, but much of this thread is over-analyzing things. I'm with guitarfool: their comments about the album, including the sequencing, strike me as totally normal.

[NightHider]

Anyone else notie Brian's facial reaction after speaking about missing Carl (7:30) was  strikingly similar to his facial reaction in the press conference addressing Dennis' death back in 1983 (1hr 37 min into An American Band documentary)?

[guitarfool2002]

- look, for example, at The Beatles who frequently chose not only the running order of the songs but also the photographer of the album, the art design, the packaging, etc. I think it's a shame that The Beach Boys don't have the kind of clout to have that kind of control over their product and instead have the kind of control wherein comparisons to the pre-fabricated, company-controlled Monkees and the entirely fictional group, Spinal Tap are in order.

I'll bet it's not having "the kind of clout" so much as simply not caring. How many 50 year old bands do you know who want an artistic say in every aspect of the process? If the Beach Boys really wanted significant input on their album art, they'd get it.

I know this board is catered to people who like details, but much of this thread is over-analyzing things. I'm with guitarfool: their comments about the album, including the sequencing, strike me as totally normal.

And the bottom line is, it is simply not standard procedure for the majority of bands to get that deeply involved in every facet of an album's production from concept to recording to release. And along the way, through the various steps, changes and tweaks are a fact of life, and in some cases a project which looked 99.9% ready to go to the duplication stage one step shy of distribution is changed at the last minute. And some of those changes are a case where the artist never sets foot in the mastering studio, the duplication house, or the place where the artwork is printed. Unless you're some control freak singer-songwriter or something. Period, end of story.

I'm not suggesting anything other than what I know and what I have experienced having dealt with this stuff before. But I would suggest before trying to suggest something other than what is probably happening, do some research on what mastering is and what the post-production process really means, because even artists who we worked with who were on top of things and had a game plan ready to go had little or no understanding of what mastering actually is or what it means in the process.

That's just how it is, but the fact that an artist says "I have not heard the final version" is indicative of nothing beyond the way the process works for every band, unless you're a control freak singer-songwriter who might want to spend a day at the pressing plant watching over the workers to make sure all the labels are applied correctly on his/her albums as they roll through the line.