Love and Mercy - News and Reviews - First clip is out.

[Dudd]

I think someone said before that it's premiering at the festival to pick up a distributor - then we'll get a trailer.

[Niko]

Ideally it'd be coming out at the same time as the details on the B-Dubs album.

[tony p]

A new film about Wilson's battle with what is euphemistically called his "demons" is set to premiere Sept. 7 at the Toronto International Film Festival. Titled "Love and Mercy," it stars Paul Dano and John Cusack as the young and old Wilson, respectively, and Paul Giamatti as Dr. Eugene Landy, the late psychotherapist who took control of Wilson's life as a financial conservator, musical collaborator and 24/7 counselor. It follows Wilson in the mid-1960s as he suffers psychotic episodes and struggles with drug abuse and obesity.

Wilson has actively been involved in fine-tuning the film, which has been in development since 1988. He went to a recent table reading, his publicist, Jean Sievers said, and provided the production team with some notes. It already has an international distribution deal from Lionsgate.

http://www.desertsun.com/story/life/entertainment/music/2014/08/27/beach-boys-brian-wilson/14716185/

Not related to L&M, but he also speaks on Foskett leaving his band, depression, and some other things

Some interesting quotes from the article:

Wilson says flat out, "The Beach Boys band is not as good as my band.

"The Brian Wilson Band is younger and has better musicians," he said. "They play better, they sing better. They are really just excellent musicians."

and

Asked when the other material he recorded with Beck will be released, he said, "Not soon."

[Andrew G. Doe]

Very reasonable and interesting article, but someone really needs to do better research: of those "ten lesser-known songs", three were US Top 20 hits and two more went US Top 40: in all, six charted, and that's not considering the foreign markets.

[Dudd]

It already has an international distribution deal from Lionsgate.

 

This is all that matters. Now where's my trailer

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Brian was obese in the mid 60s?  I also didn't know Sail On Sailor was a beautiful ballad. Who wrote this sh*t?

Edit

And a video link to that infamous 1981 performance? ! Thankfully GoK and not Dont Worry Baby, though.

[startBBtoday]

Someone finally asks questions that we want answers to, and we can only complain about the two facts he got wrong.

Who wrote this sh*t? Someone who's not as obsessed with Brian Wilson as we are.

[shelter]

Who wrote this sh*t? Someone who's not as obsessed with Brian Wilson as we are.

Has nothing to do with being obsessed or not. If you're a journalist and you make several mistakes (calling a rocker a ballad, calling several well-known hit songs obscure, placing Brian's weight problems in the wrong decade) that could very easily have been prevented by checking Wikipedia for two minutes and by actually giving the songs you're talking about a quick listen, than you're kinda doing a poor job.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Exactly. 

[startBBtoday]

Who wrote this sh*t? Someone who's not as obsessed with Brian Wilson as we are.

Has nothing to do with being obsessed or not. If you're a journalist and you make several mistakes (calling a rocker a ballad, calling several well-known hit songs obscure, placing Brian's weight problems in the wrong decade) that could very easily have been prevented by checking Wikipedia for two minutes and by actually giving the songs you're talking about a quick listen, than you're kinda doing a poor job.

He didn't write obscure. He wrote "lesser-known." And lesser known is, quite frankly, in the eye of the beholder. And I'm sure the general reader of The Desert Sun probably can't immediately recall Hawaii, Please Let Me Wonder or Wild Honey.

As a journalist, I understand that the mistakes about Sail On Sailor and Brian being obese in the 60s shouldn't have happened, but I also understand that they DO happen, no matter the writer, process or editor.

It's just odd to me that someone finally churns out a decent interview, asking Brian questions we want to hear, and now we're talking about the two things he got wrong more than any new information. I suppose it's the problem with the internet, though. All anyone wants to do is complain.

[shelter]

He didn't write obscure. He wrote "lesser-known." And lesser known is, quite frankly, in the eye of the beholder. And I'm sure the general reader of The Desert Sun probably can't immediately recall Hawaii, Please Let Me Wonder or Wild Honey.

As a journalist, I understand that the mistakes about Sail On Sailor and Brian being obese in the 60s shouldn't have happened, but I also understand that they DO happen, no matter the writer, process or editor.

It's just odd to me that someone finally churns out a decent interview, asking Brian questions we want to hear, and now we're talking about the two things he got wrong more than any new information. I suppose it's the problem with the internet, though. All anyone wants to do is complain.

I don't think you should have a whole lot of tolerance for lazy journalists who don't bother to check very simple facts. They get paid to inform and if they get their facts wrong, they're simply doing a bad job. How much trouble can it be to just listen to 'Sail On, Sailor' for a minute or to find out that songs like 'Cotton Fields', 'Do You Wanna Dance', 'Heroes and Villains' were actually fairly big hits?

I wouldn't call myself a journalist since writing is just a hobby for me, but I did write for a music magazine for nine years. And even if I had to write about some Austrian hardcore band that had just released a demo tape, I made sure that I double checked every little fact. If I could do that in my spare time with bands that usually played for 30-40 people, than why should I accept it if a professional doesn't do it with one of the most successful bands in music history?

The mistakes in this article are all pretty harmless, but still: there are several excellent Beach Boys historians on this board who've done tremendous amounts of work to set the record straight on many of the well-known Beach Boys myths. But there are still so many journalists who just keep recycling nonsense about Brian burning all the 'Smile' tapes, about Brian losing his mind after hearing 'Sgt. Pepper', about The Beach Boys not really doing anything noteworthy between 'Heroes and Villains' and 'Kokomo'... I think we, as fans, should complain about things like that. It's kind of our job, I suppose.

OT: Does your username have anything to do with Gorilla Biscuits?

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I picked out ONLY two...there were plenty more in the article. What really bothered me, though, was the fact that:

1) They opened up with a question about Brian's depression, and how he felt about Robin Williams's suicide, which to me was bad form. You don't OPEN an interview with that...if I were Brian, I'd have hung up at that point

2) The linking to the 1981 performance of God Only Knows. Although that was probably the best performance from that show, that's like saying being shot is less painful than being stabbed. Why post a video from when Brian was at his nadir?! Tacky.

[startBBtoday]

He didn't write obscure. He wrote "lesser-known." And lesser known is, quite frankly, in the eye of the beholder. And I'm sure the general reader of The Desert Sun probably can't immediately recall Hawaii, Please Let Me Wonder or Wild Honey.

As a journalist, I understand that the mistakes about Sail On Sailor and Brian being obese in the 60s shouldn't have happened, but I also understand that they DO happen, no matter the writer, process or editor.

It's just odd to me that someone finally churns out a decent interview, asking Brian questions we want to hear, and now we're talking about the two things he got wrong more than any new information. I suppose it's the problem with the internet, though. All anyone wants to do is complain.

I don't think you should have a whole lot of tolerance for lazy journalists who don't bother to check very simple facts. They get paid to inform and if they get their facts wrong, they're simply doing a bad job. How much trouble can it be to just listen to 'Sail On, Sailor' for a minute or to find out that songs like 'Cotton Fields', 'Do You Wanna Dance', 'Heroes and Villains' were actually fairly big hits?

I wouldn't call myself a journalist since writing is just a hobby for me, but I did write for a music magazine for nine years. And even if I had to write about some Austrian hardcore band that had just released a demo tape, I made sure that I double checked every little fact. If I could do that in my spare time with bands that usually played for 30-40 people, than why should I accept it if a professional doesn't do it with one of the most successful bands in music history?

The mistakes in this article are all pretty harmless, but still: there are several excellent Beach Boys historians on this board who've done tremendous amounts of work to set the record straight on many of the well-known Beach Boys myths. But there are still so many journalists who just keep recycling nonsense about Brian burning all the 'Smile' tapes, about Brian losing his mind after hearing 'Sgt. Pepper', about The Beach Boys not really doing anything noteworthy between 'Heroes and Villains' and 'Kokomo'... I think we, as fans, should complain about things like that. It's kind of our job, I suppose.

OT: Does your username have anything to do with Gorilla Biscuits?

I just know how difficult it is to be a journalist in the digital age. I'm writing 6-8 articles a day, and mistakes slip through the cracks at times, no matter how hard I try for that not to be the case. Most of these articles are not researched, fact-checked and worked on for days, weeks or a month at a time. I'd blame the industry over the writer, but I also know why the industry changed. These sites and papers need to make money somehow.

And not to be super nit-picky, but just because songs were hits 45 years ago doesn't make them well known today. They're still lesser-known songs to people who only hear The Beach Boys on oldies satellite radio.

And yes, it is a GB reference.

I picked out ONLY two...there were plenty more in the article. What really bothered me, though, was the fact that:

1) They opened up with a question about Brian's depression, and how he felt about Robin Williams's suicide, which to me was bad form. You don't OPEN an interview with that...if I were Brian, I'd have hung up at that point

2) The linking to the 1981 performance of God Only Knows. Although that was probably the best performance from that show, that's like saying being shot is less painful than being stabbed. Why post a video from when Brian was at his nadir?! Tacky.

I thought using the 1981 performance of God Only Knows was strange, as well. Why not use a clip from 1964 or one from the last 5-10 years?

[Andrew G. Doe]

And not to be super nit-picky, but just because songs were hits 45 years ago doesn't make them well known today. They're still lesser-known songs to people who only hear The Beach Boys on oldies satellite radio.

I strongly suspect that, in this particular instance, "lesser-known" should be suffixed with "(by me)". Just because he's not au fait with them isn't grounds to assume that neither is everyone else.

[startBBtoday]

And not to be super nit-picky, but just because songs were hits 45 years ago doesn't make them well known today. They're still lesser-known songs to people who only hear The Beach Boys on oldies satellite radio.

I strongly suspect that, in this particular instance, "lesser-known" should be suffixed with "(by me)". Just because he's not au fait with them isn't grounds to assume that neither is everyone else.

I would say those songs are well known to Beach Boys fans and those who lived through the 60s and 70s, but not to the general public. I think we have trouble looking outside The Beach Boys bubble at times.

To the general public, Surfin' USA, California Girls, God Only Knows, Wouldn't It Be Nice, Good Vibrations, Kokomo, I Get Around, Fun Fun Fun, Help Me Rhonda, Little Deuce Coupe, Barbara Ann, Sloop John B and Surfer Girl might be the well-known songs, because they're still played on radio, commercials and in movies, and anything less might be lesser known.

"Eight Miles High" was a Top 20 hit for The Byrds, for example, and "All I Really Want To Do" was Top 40, and I don't know either one of those songs. Byrds fans would probably crucify me for saying they're lesser known, though.

[Heywood]

Of course they are lesser known.
The normal people I know probably have never heard of them! 

[Andrew G. Doe]

The people surrounding me at both Hampton Court and Epsom Downs were stereotypical "normal people", and they were singing along to everything pretty much word perfect, even "Goin' To The Beach" and "Pisces Brothers". 

OK, I may have lied about those last two, but seriously, "Darlin'" got a huge response the moment Cowsill opened his mouth. The songs are known to the kind of person who comes to a Mike & Bruce show.

[startBBtoday]

The people surrounding me at both Hampton Court and Epsom Downs were stereotypical "normal people", and they were singing along to everything pretty much word perfect, even "Goin' To The Beach" and "Pisces Brothers". 

OK, I may have lied about those last two, but seriously, "Darlin'" got a huge response the moment Cowsill opened his mouth. The songs are known to the kind of person who comes to a Mike & Bruce show.

No offense, but that's a pretty terrible example. It's not very surprising that people who go to Beach Boys concerts know Beach Boys songs. Those are fans of the Beach Boys.

Categorizing people who go to Beach Boys concerts as "normal people" is pretty much the definition of having trouble looking outside the Beach Boys bubble.

I, a 28 year old, grew up on oldies music because my parents are baby boomers. My fiancee, who is also 28, didn't because her parents are younger, and she knows the hits and little else. That would apply to most of my friends, co-workers, colleagues, exes and enemies. They would almost certainly consider "Heroes & Villains" lesser known than "Help Me, Rhonda."

For pretty much anyone other than fans of music from the 60s and 70s -- which is a whittling population since that group is getting, ahem, older -- "Darlin" is a lesser-known song than say, "California Girls."

Just like "Eight Miles High" and "All I Really Want To Do" are lesser known than "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "Mr. Tambourine Man."

I'm not saying you guys are old or anything, but I can understand that you might be having trouble believing that there's an entire younger generation that couldn't hum a bar of Hawaii, Please Let Me Wonder, Marcella, or Shut Down if pressed.

Would we consider these deep cuts if included in an M+B show? No. But a Top 20 or 40 hit from 50 years ago isn't considered common knowledge to the general population. And The Desert Sun isn't an obscure Beach Boys fanzine. It's a newspaper written for the masses.

[The Shift]

I wouldn't call myself a journalist since writing is just a hobby for me, but I did write for a music magazine for nine years. And even if I had to write about some Austrian hardcore band that had just released a demo tape, I made sure that I double checked every little fact. If I could do that in my spare time with bands that usually played for 30-40 people, than why should I accept it if a professional doesn't do it with one of the most successful bands in music history?

And therein lies a difference. Most journalists would love the luxury of being able to write stuff in their spare time, but a professional - doing it for a living - would probably have had to turn around dozens of stories in the time it would have taken you to write a piece about an obscure band that played for a handful of people. I'm sure if his editor would have been impressed if he had walked in to find the writer listening to a bunch of CDs in order to identify the rockers from the ballads, while the magazine or newspaper approached deadline with empty pages still to be filled. Once you start writing for a living, it often places demands that mean you have to structure your time in order to turn out volume. It's a terrible reflection of the modern day industry (or rather the proprietors' greed for income over quality, as if the two weren't related!) but it's a fact.

[Menace Wilson]

"...some pundits are already predicting it could be his next masterpiece.  Wilson said he wrote the songs and then found the artists that could perform them best.  'We lined up a few guest artists,' he said. 'We looked them up and checked them out and they checked out good.'...He considered using a recording he and Beck did of the Irish ballad, 'Danny Boy,' but, 'We didn't put it in the album. It just didn't fit the album very well.' Asked when the other material he recorded with Beck will be released, he said, 'Not soon.'"

This part brings out the cynic in me. 

Didn't Brian specifically want to work with Beck?  Now apparently all of that work has gone out the window.  Meanwhile, "we" decided that a trio of hot young chicks "checked out good" and will appear on the album...at least two of whom Brian had probably never previously heard of. 
 

[shelter]

And yes, it is a GB reference.

Cool. That's one of my favorite bands.

[guitarfool2002]

"...some pundits are already predicting it could be his next masterpiece.  Wilson said he wrote the songs and then found the artists that could perform them best.  'We lined up a few guest artists,' he said. 'We looked them up and checked them out and they checked out good.'...He considered using a recording he and Beck did of the Irish ballad, 'Danny Boy,' but, 'We didn't put it in the album. It just didn't fit the album very well.' Asked when the other material he recorded with Beck will be released, he said, 'Not soon.'"

This part brings out the cynic in me. 

Didn't Brian specifically want to work with Beck?  Now apparently all of that work has gone out the window.  Meanwhile, "we" decided that a trio of hot young chicks "checked out good" and will appear on the album...at least two of whom Brian had probably never previously heard of. 
 

Don't be cynical. 

And these same issues were hashed out in the new BW album thread.

Having said that, it does get under my skin just a bit to see the stuff again about Brian probably never hearing of such-and-such artist...Consider how many artists any of us as diehard music fans, not to mention musicians themselves, have *never* heard of let alone heard a note of music from until someone says the equivalent of "Hey, check this out..."

I read articles on a weekly basis especially in the guitar/musician universe where someone ends up working with, playing with, or even collaborating with a major artist from the most simple situation where that major artist heard something they liked and wanted to work with that person. Simple as that. And with social media, YouTube, Facebook, etc, it's as simple as someone posting a link to an online performance on their Facebook, someone else likes it and shares it forward, and who knows who may hear it and like it.

"Hey, check this out...". No different for Brian. Unless the standard for him is now different than pretty much the entirety of the popular music world. 

[rab2591]

"...some pundits are already predicting it could be his next masterpiece.  Wilson said he wrote the songs and then found the artists that could perform them best.  'We lined up a few guest artists,' he said. 'We looked them up and checked them out and they checked out good.'...He considered using a recording he and Beck did of the Irish ballad, 'Danny Boy,' but, 'We didn't put it in the album. It just didn't fit the album very well.' Asked when the other material he recorded with Beck will be released, he said, 'Not soon.'"

This part brings out the cynic in me. 

Didn't Brian specifically want to work with Beck?  Now apparently all of that work has gone out the window.

Be thankful that Brian is being picky about what is going on this album....it says volumes about how much he cares about this project. The Beck collaboration didn't work out - if it's bad material I'm glad it won't end up on the album.

And ditto, Guitarfool - great post!

[ToneBender631]

"...some pundits are already predicting it could be his next masterpiece.  Wilson said he wrote the songs and then found the artists that could perform them best.  'We lined up a few guest artists,' he said. 'We looked them up and checked them out and they checked out good.'...He considered using a recording he and Beck did of the Irish ballad, 'Danny Boy,' but, 'We didn't put it in the album. It just didn't fit the album very well.' Asked when the other material he recorded with Beck will be released, he said, 'Not soon.'"

This part brings out the cynic in me. 

Didn't Brian specifically want to work with Beck?  Now apparently all of that work has gone out the window.

Be thankful that Brian is being picky about what is going on this album....it says volumes about how much he cares about this project. The Beck collaboration didn't work out - if it's bad material I'm glad it won't end up on the album.

And ditto, Guitarfool - great post!

It's possible that they also decided to shelve it after seeing Jeff's reaction to it potentially being on the record. Don't worry, we'll undoubtedly hear the material at some point in the future. There's money to be made and if Capitol paid for it to be recorded, they'll want to maximize the return on their investment as much as possible in the future.

[shelter]

And therein lies a difference. Most journalists would love the luxury of being able to write stuff in their spare time, but a professional - doing it for a living - would probably have had to turn around dozens of stories in the time it would have taken you to write a piece about an obscure band that played for a handful of people.

I often had very tight deadlines too (I might be an amateur, but I wrote for a professional magazine), plus I had to do all my writing in the evening, after I got home from my full time job.