Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight

[Rocker]

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

I don't think it's pre-recorded but post. I could only hear it through my not-so-great computer boxes, so I don't know if it really sounds like it did to me but it seemed quite lifeless, flat and processed

[Heysaboda]

BTW, in the interview w/ Charlie Rose, Brian was pressed to name his "favorite" Beach Boys album and he said Summer Days!  Then dismissed the question w/ a wave of his hand, to indicate there's too many!  Charming!

So there ya go!

 

[Chocolate Shake Man]

- 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.

I'm not talking about mastering. So far we've had a case of one member not knowing what songs were going to be on the album, and which ones weren't. We have another member not knowing what the cover looked like until it was sprung on him on a talk show - while we here on this site had already seen it. We have another member saying he doesn't really know what's on the album at all. So, the next time I talk to a musician I will ask him or her, "So, it must have been surprising when you found out what songs were on your album" since obviously it is standard procedure for an artist to know nothing about what their album looks like, sounds like, or indeed what is on it at all.

[hypehat]

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.

Yeah, that is depressing.

[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.

I'm not talking about mastering. So far we've had a case of one member not knowing what songs were going to be on the album, and which ones weren't. We have another member not knowing what the cover looked like until it was sprung on him on a talk show - while we here on this site had already seen it. We have another member saying he doesn't really know what's on the album at all. So, the next time I talk to a musician I will ask him or her, "So, it must have been surprising when you found out what songs were on your album" since obviously it is standard procedure for an artist to know nothing about what their album looks like, sounds like, or indeed what is on it at all.

You are talking to a musician right now in the form of me who got paid fairly well to record and co-produce (and mix) an album for at least two singer-songwriters, and granted they were not the Beach Boys and they were not a "band" per se, but when I heard the final version (the released version) of the album, it was in some cases so far removed from the mixes we had originally turned in, the sound was unrecognizable to the two people who spent hours on it and knew almost every note.

That's just one case of plans and everything else changing from completion of the mixes to what eventually shows up on an album. All the changes were made after the "final" mixes were turned in, paid for, and approved to the point where we as the production team, mixers, and performers assumed that was what would be sent off to post-production and what would be on the album(s).

I can only recommend having a bit of faith and taking someone's word for it that the information you're digesting about how little control the Beach Boys have in this new project is being taken several steps too far.

As far as the post-production, mastering, sequencing, etc way of doing things...perhaps it would be better to ask someone like a Linett, Desper, etc. or whoever else has a recognized name and experience with this particular band of artists through the decades and gauge their opinion of it.

I don't see anything suspicious when Brian said on Fallon he had not seen the final cover, or when Al said he had not heard the final version or whatever he said, because the process of actually releasing an album isn't quite what I think some are assuming it is. And honestly, it never has been.

I'm just saying the way it is described is nowhere near as nefarious or suspicious or even worthy of critique as some in this tread are trying to present it, and I hope they take a step back and get some more info before deciding the Beach Boys new album is some sort of a corporate ruse where the band were puppets or something. That's all...

[Heysaboda]

Paraphrasing:

Charlie Rose:  "What is closer to you? Exuberance or melancholy?"
Brian: "I don't see a difference."

That's brilliant.

Brian is just effing brilliant, isn't he!!

[the professor]

great interview--so real, so full, so human and humane--the real BB and their words and thought with a relatively scholarly interviewer; this is a dream come through to hear them not selling in a promo. video but a real talk among men; I am blown away--this is gold.

the PBS stuff:  can it be the fully evolved material that will be on TV next week?  I know it's not easy to record the BB, so how do you take the St. Augustine tapes and clean them up?  is all that clean up inherently wrong? what changes to the real performance would seem to be occuring here? can you sit down in the studio and sing over the live recording?  As long as it's the BB, I can accept a little autotune. I prefer the Fallon show and QVC, but I'l take a little tweaking. Let's stay on it; I want t DVD that I can watch for the next 40 years, til I die.

but again, th einterview--one of the best; they don't want to say much the BB, but they open up a bit here.

What about Al talking about being a hit man, coming in on parts?  Capital is in final charge?  I like that; it shows we are not an indie band! The label cares.  Dave says it's a movie soundtrack, which points to the reading I have been promoting about  the narrative consistency.

more later

[runnersdialzero]

Paraphrasing:

Charlie Rose:  "What is closer to you? Exuberance or melancholy?"
Brian: "I don't see a difference."

That's brilliant.

Brian is just effing brilliant, isn't he!!

Hate to be teh burster of bubblez, but Brian actually just responds with "Both." A bit different than answering "I don't see a difference."

[Sheriff John Stone]

Is anybody having problems with this interview playing? My computer is a piece pf crap and it's probably spyware, but the thing keeps pausing. I can't get it play through.

[runnersdialzero]

My computer is a piece pf crap

^_^

[endofposts]

Is anybody having problems with this interview playing? My computer is a piece pf crap and it's probably spyware, but the thing keeps pausing. I can't get it play through.

Download it.  I use RealPlayer software to download things like YouTube and other streaming video.  Once you install it, it makes a little pop-up that you click on and it will download video and audio to your computer and you can play it through without buffering or other problems.  I realize people think RealPlayer is old-school, but they've improved it and it behaves well.

[Landlocked]

Paraphrasing:

Charlie Rose:  "What is closer to you? Exuberance or melancholy?"
Brian: "I don't see a difference."

That's brilliant.

Brian is just effing brilliant, isn't he!!

Hate to be teh burster of bubblez, but Brian actually just responds with "Both." A bit different than answering "I don't see a difference."

Wait a few more seconds. He continued on to say, "I can't tell the difference. I absolutely cannot tell the difference."

Kind of effed up when Mike rudely says, "Haha! Manic depressive!" after Brian says "Both!"

[Ziggy Stardust]

Excellent interview, the group seems to be optimistic!

[SamMcK]

You know what, all I can really say after watching that is that it makes me happy that Brian is alive and back with his band.

[STE]

I absolutely loved it!!
I could watch something like this for hours and hours.

[Rocker]

can you sit down in the studio and sing over the live recording?  

Of course you can. That's standard practice for years. Remember that Chuck Berry concert movie "Hail, hail Rock'n'Roll" ? His voice was so shot on the performances that all of his lead vocals were re-recorded in the studio.

[endofposts]

It's just odd if they're doing the re-recording, or at least starting to, in the middle of a tour.  Seems like it would be a bit stressful, though I guess they have no choice if the show is going to be on in June.  I'm not a fan of Joe Thomas's way of doing things if that's what's going on.  I've never watched any of his other PBS shows so I have no idea if that's a standard practice of his. 

[Zach95]

If Joe Thomas is really a TV guy, then I trust him.  I guess we'll just see. If he was as horrid as everyone here says he is, I'm sure we wouldn't be the only people saying it and he would have lost his reputation a long time ago.  So like I said, I have a certain amount of faith in the guy.

[runnersdialzero]

Wait a few more seconds. He continued on to say, "I can't tell the difference. I absolutely cannot tell the difference."

Kind of effed up when Mike rudely says, "Haha! Manic depressive!" after Brian says "Both!"

Ah, I missed that - interesting quote.

can you sit down in the studio and sing over the live recording?  

Of course you can. That's standard practice for years. Remember that Chuck Berry concert movie "Hail, hail Rock'n'Roll" ? His voice was so shot on the performances that all of his lead vocals were re-recorded in the studio.

Not to mention several Brian Wilson live albums and DVDs.

[bossaroo]

great interview. i loved it.

i didn't get the impression at all that Mike and Bruce were belittling or dismissing SMiLE. The Dennis quote seemed to be his way of dismissing Dennis more than anything. Brian seemed fairly loose and comfortable and opened up a bit. He did trot out a couple of his more predictable responses (on taking LSD and being inferior to Spector) but that's to be expected.

Charlie seems to be genuinely in awe of Brian and his abilities as do all the guys. It's great to see Brian soak some of that in.


I also like Al's idea of them touring every couple years or so and "getting their Tony Bennett on" as David said.  Al stated jokingly after a recent performance of 'Heroes and Villains' that they were going to perform the entire SMiLE album. A bit lofty perhaps, but it would be nice to see them go on performing and introducing more and more of the backlog into the repertiore.

Brian mentioned taking some time off, so maybe that's where he's at. He does seem like he's aged a lot in some ways, yet he's singing better than he has in 20 years if you ask me.

[Tony S]

Very much enjoyed the Charlie Rose interview.

[jeremylr]

The Charlie Rose interview just came on again on Bloomberg Television [channel 353 on DirecTV]. Started around 10:20 PM Eastern tonight...

[bossaroo]

and how about all that Good Vibrations studio footage he showed at the end? that's the most we've seen yet!

[oldsurferdude]

Paraphrasing:

Charlie Rose:  "What is closer to you? Exuberance or melancholy?"
Brian: "I don't see a difference."

That's brilliant.

Brian is just effing brilliant, isn't he!!

Hate to be teh burster of bubblez, but Brian actually just responds with "Both." A bit different than answering "I don't see a difference."

Wait a few more seconds. He continued on to say, "I can't tell the difference. I absolutely cannot tell the difference."

Kind of effed up when Mike rudely says, "Haha! Manic depressive!" after Brian says "Both!"

Speaking of the Rudester, I noticed when he took breaths between sentences that he wheezed quite often, not to mention his voice sounds like he's got a good gallon of thick muck stuck inside his throat or maybe his esophagus.

[Ian]

I enjoyed watching that-though it would be a way better interview if Charlie Rose actually knew more about them and their history-but they acquitted themselves well.  That clip at the end is cool-I hadn't seen all that extra footage of Brian producing Hal Blaine, etc