The ask Brian a question thread

[Les P]

That was fun, and about what I expected in terms of in-depth answers (or lack of).  Hopefully he'll come back and address some excellent questions he didn't get to.

Reading this, though, makes me a little sad:

What is your definition of artistic success?
Number one records on the charts.

 If that's still truly his measurement of success, he's almost certain to be disappointed.

[Lowbacca]

That was fun, and about what I expected in terms of in-depth answers (or lack of).  Hopefully he'll come back and address some excellent questions he didn't get to.

Reading this, though, makes me a little sad.  If that's still truly his measurement of success, he's almost certain to be disappointed:

What is your definition of artistic success?
Number one records on the charts.

He probably didn't really 'get' the "artistic" part of the question..

[job]

That was fun, and about what I expected in terms of in-depth answers (or lack of).  Hopefully he'll come back and address some excellent questions he didn't get to.

Reading this, though, makes me a little sad:

What is your definition of artistic success?
Number one records on the charts.

 If that's still truly his measurement of success, he's almost certain to be disappointed.

He has always been clear that he attaches the greatest importance to chart success.

[LeeDempsey]

Do you remember the Crenshaw Apartment's where you had a studio and you were doing pre-production on pet sounds or recording new artists on your record label Safari Records? If so do you remember the little girl riding her red tricycle around and is she a long lost relative to your family? Was her name Sandy or nick named Sissy ? and if so is the Wilson family looking for her?

[alf wiedersehen]

Do you remember the Crenshaw Apartment's where you had a studio and you were doing pre-production on pet sounds or recording new artists on your record label Safari Records? If so do you remember the little girl riding her red tricycle around and is she a long lost relative to your family? Was her name Sandy or nick named Sissy ? and if so is the Wilson family looking for her?

An extremely bizarre question entirely shrugged off by Brian's response of "I remember that - I had a studio there!"

[Mikie]

Musta been a helluva studio in that apartment.  Let's see, a Wollensak reel to reel tape recorder, a microphone, three blank 3M tapes, a table, a chair, a lamp, and a mattress on the floor....

[Les P]

I didn't want to further clog the What Did We Learn thread, but I couldn't resist putting this somewhere.

The question I posted:

What inspired you to write "Country Air" on the Wild Honey album, and was some part of it written for Smile?

The response I fantasized:

I love that, thanks for asking!  I remember I was up in the Sierra Nevadas with Michael Vosse and some other friends – AGD can tell you who was there and the exact dates, and what kind of pizza we ate for lunch – and we were up on a mountain and Michael said “take a breath of that country air.”  I said, “Wow, country air…that’s a GREAT idea for a song!”  And this tune came to me right then and I started humming it and they were knocked out by it.  KNOCKED OUT!  Then I thought, I should do a whole thing about the elements for SMiLE, you know, air, fire, water, earth.  Yeah, the Elements!  I figured that would scare some people.  The air part was gonna be a piano piece like the humming part of “Country Air,” with some blowing and whistling over it.  We never finished that, but I have a copy of the unfinished track at home…I’ll put that up on my website after I finish answering all these great questions.   Well, on second thought it's not lossless so you guys wouldn't want to hear it.  Anyway, I used the tune for “Country Air” when we did the ‘Wild Honey’ album.    By the way,  the earth section of The Elements was...

The response I expected:

NONE.

The response I received:

I love it - sings - no inspiration - just wrote it!

So, the vision of Brian happily singing a line of “Country Air”...very cool!

[RangeRoverA1]

I thought ?-n about favorite ELO song/album was right up Mikie or stockey's alley. But it was MrRobinsonsFather.

[mikeddonn]

Do you remember the Crenshaw Apartment's where you had a studio and you were doing pre-production on pet sounds or recording new artists on your record label Safari Records? If so do you remember the little girl riding her red tricycle around and is she a long lost relative to your family? Was her name Sandy or nick named Sissy ? and if so is the Wilson family looking for her?

It lost me too Lee!  Thankfully Brian knows how to answer those curveball types of questions. 

[Radfahrer]

Do you remember the Crenshaw Apartment's where you had a studio and you were doing pre-production on pet sounds or recording new artists on your record label Safari Records? If so do you remember the little girl riding her red tricycle around and is she a long lost relative to your family? Was her name Sandy or nick named Sissy ? and if so is the Wilson family looking for her?

It lost me too Lee!  Thankfully Brian knows how to answer those curveball types of questions. 

Something like: "Knowing Sandy is like liking a Phil Spector record." ?