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Author Topic: Brian's '70s fades...  (Read 7819 times)
Mr. Cohen
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« on: January 28, 2015, 06:35:09 AM »

I've brought this up before, but I wanted to make a topic about it just to get more people's views. One of the biggest flaws I find in Brian's early '70s music is the fades. As we all know, Brian was the master of the fade in the '60s. He made the fade an event, rather than just another way to end a song. You'd want to play the song again just to hear the ending.

On Sunflower, Brian still used his classic approach to fades. "Add Some Music" has a unique tag that disappears pretty quickly, and "This Whole World" has a brilliant finish to it. I even have to give a shout-out to "At My Window".

Surf's Up is where we start to see a change. He's more indulgent with the fades, but the brilliance of those segments almost begs for it. How do you cut "Til I Die" sooner? "A Day In The Life of a Tree" could've faded out earlier, but then he brings out Van Dyke Parks followed by Al. It almost seems justifiable. "Surf's Up" has the special aura of being a Smile track, but I'm convinced that song should've been fading out as Al finished the verse. Y'all might crucify me, but the song is 20 seconds too long IMO.

After that, Brian loses control of the fades. The fades or tags on C&TP and Holland are atrociously long by his standards. On "Mess Of Help" we're hearing the same section we'd already heard earlier from 2:50 to 3:31. It's a completely opposed to Brian's earlier practices. Don't even get me started on "Funky Pretty".  That song is almost a minute too long. "Marcella" is closer to the Surf's Up tracks in that the genius in which  the way he gradually builds up the tag almost merits the length of it.

It's interesting that with Love You, the fades are closer to Brian's classic approach, though still he doesn't get to the point quite as quickly. "Airplane" is more reminiscent of the early '70s songs in that regard.

IMO, Brian's reluctance to sing (until 15 Big Ones) on songs, the longer fades, and Brian's increasing reliance on his piano in his productions (which would've been fine if he played like Randy Newman more often, but he just played the chords about as basically as possible) had a lot to do with the group's commercial struggles.
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« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2015, 07:07:29 AM »

   AHHH, if only your examples of negativity were done by Brian, you'd be on much more solid ground 
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« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2015, 07:20:17 AM »

Compelling post, Mr. Cohen. I agree wholeheartedly. Must add, though, and not that you said otherwise, that Brian's piano playing seems perfectly appropiate for his ends (which is natural, considering that his songs were born at his piano). I think he has a producer's non-virtuosic approach to piano playing: his knack for voicing, rhythm, bass, feel are outstanding. A Randy Newman type of playing would not favor his music. Besides, I don't think his playing on the records became any different than, say, Fun Fun Fun. It just became more prominent. I know I'm not contradicting you, but I just wanted to mention it.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2015, 07:21:24 AM by Challenger Putney » Logged

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Mr. Cohen
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« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2015, 07:28:42 AM »

Quote from: bgas
 AHHH, if only your examples of negativity were done by Brian, you'd be on much more solid ground
These were Brian's songs, man. If in reality he let Carl or Dennis or WHOEVER run the fade forever, it's still on Brian IMO. If Brian wanted the fade of "Funky Pretty" shorter, do you think anyone would've stopped him? "NO BRIAN, FP MUST BE OVER 4 MINUTEZ IN LENGTH PLZ K!"

Besides, if none of this was done by Brian, I want a full account of the sessions and group discussions for these songs. Tell me what really happened with the fade on "Funky Pretty", since you seem to be in the know.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2015, 07:32:15 AM by Mr. Cohen » Logged
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« Reply #4 on: January 28, 2015, 07:37:09 AM »

I also want to clarify that I love all of these songs. As a BBs fan, I love hearing the tags go on longer. I'm just speculating on reasons why the songs weren't big commercial successes.
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« Reply #5 on: January 28, 2015, 09:09:21 AM »

Interesting topic. I'd like to just add that the fade of "Hey Little Tomboy" is one of my favorite Brian fades from the 70's. And I'm talking about the MIU version, not the Adult/Child version. The little percussion instrument he adds to the MIU version for the fade (I'm not sure what instrument it is, exactly... vibraphone?) is just perfect, rather groovy.

Overall, I do agree that Brian's 70's fades were unspectacular more often than they weren't.
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Mr. Cohen
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« Reply #6 on: January 28, 2015, 09:11:55 AM »

Quote from: Putney
It just became more prominent.
Exactly! Imagine "Fun, Fun, Fun" without any prominent Brian parts, and it's just the piano, a spacey minimalist bass part, and sparse drums. Would that have been a hit?
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« Reply #7 on: January 28, 2015, 11:09:25 AM »

Brian's stuff around the time sounded less energetic than what had come before and I really love that. I find the long early-70s fades very charming and if they're the reason the stuff didn't sell I'm pretty sure everyone involved got over it eventually.
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« Reply #8 on: January 28, 2015, 11:25:47 AM »

Carl was interviewed about "tags" or "fades" in the 70s. It's in one of the "Beach Boys Quotes" books. Longer song lengths had been coming into vogue as FM supplanted AM, and even AM hits were longer. That permitted differing styles and approaches to songwriting (and song structure) for everyone. The Beach Boys explored that direction for awhile in the early 70s. It's possible that the lengthier fades come from Carl, as he was more responsible for hands-on production during the time frame.

I think it's a mistake to overgeneralize about the concluding sections of these songs, because they are not all alike--some are "tags", which introduce completely new material into the song as it fades out, while others are extending the chorus; there are even a few that revert to the middle-8. All of these produce different effects and they should be analyzed before they are "opinionated."

To really discuss this issue, it seems to me that a much more thorough classification of the structural aspects of the concluding sections (from all portions of Brian's writing career) is what's needed. Absent that, this all reduces very quickly into total subjectivity. Some of that is always going to come into play--people respond differently and become attached to what they've come to embrace--but the discussion needs to be grounded in a much more complete context before a set of conclusions can be approached, much less arrived at.
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Mr. Cohen
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« Reply #9 on: January 28, 2015, 11:49:04 AM »

So, was Carl was in fact responsible for the longer fades or what? Is "Marcella" Brian's song or not? We also need to make those distinctions, then. Because I'm tired of trying to discuss Brian's '70s music and people are like "it's not Brian, tho". Did Brian write the tag to "Marcella" or not?
« Last Edit: January 28, 2015, 11:51:14 AM by Mr. Cohen » Logged
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« Reply #10 on: January 28, 2015, 12:06:24 PM »

Couldn't agree less re the opening post. The problem is that BB fades too often fade out far too soon.

Thank God that Brian decided to allow the fades to stick around a bit longer by the time it came to recording Til I Die, Funky Pretty, etc.

As for cutting short Surf's Up? No offence but... are you mad???!!!
« Last Edit: January 28, 2015, 12:07:51 PM by Disney Boy (1985) » Logged
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« Reply #11 on: January 28, 2015, 12:13:22 PM »

I'm not mad, lol. Sure, if the fans had there way, "Good Vibrations" would have the "hum-dee-dum" part and an extended version of the bit Brian used to fade out the song with an edit at the end so we could transition to the chorus again fading out forever. And it wouldn't have been a hit. The shortness of the sections in Brian's hits are make them so relistenable. Long after I'm tired of the Beatles hits, I'm still loving Brian's music. I once timed it out, and the average length of a section of music in "Fun, Fun, Fun" was like 15 seconds or something, and there are tons of variations.

That was Brian's genius. That's why he was next level.
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« Reply #12 on: January 28, 2015, 12:51:29 PM »

Completely agree about the fade to Surf's Up. Never liked it. I think it'd be better to just fade out after the verse parts are sung as well. The "Na Na" lyrics are pretty bad to my ears and I hate how they and the recycled Child vocals are all you hear for a good couple seconds. Really leaves that song on a sour note, imo.
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« Reply #13 on: January 28, 2015, 01:23:44 PM »

Cant agree re Surf's Up. The fade is what the entire song builds towards!

And i'm glad Brian chopped out the 'hum-de-um' part of GV, but yeah, i wish that fade had stuck around for another 5 seconds or so at least...
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« Reply #14 on: January 28, 2015, 03:23:29 PM »

Completely agree about the fade to Surf's Up. Never liked it. I think it'd be better to just fade out after the verse parts are sung as well. The "Na Na" lyrics are pretty bad to my ears and I hate how they and the recycled Child vocals are all you hear for a good couple seconds. Really leaves that song on a sour note, imo.

Wah.  I generally have a lot of time for you and your madcap obsessions and theories, Mujan, but the playout of "Surf's Up" is possibly my favourite thing in the whole of musical history, and so, for all that you'll care, I'm afraid that you are now dead to me.
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« Reply #15 on: January 28, 2015, 03:26:27 PM »

Love the Airplane fade - that song becomes almost like a medley of 2 songs! That's a long fade.

BTW, to me Dennis was paying a lot of attention to these, some his late 70s fades are amazing too.
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« Reply #16 on: January 28, 2015, 03:32:15 PM »

Completely agree about the fade to Surf's Up. Never liked it. I think it'd be better to just fade out after the verse parts are sung as well. The "Na Na" lyrics are pretty bad to my ears and I hate how they and the recycled Child vocals are all you hear for a good couple seconds. Really leaves that song on a sour note, imo.

Wah.  I generally have a lot of time for you and your madcap obsessions and theories, Mujan, but the playout of "Surf's Up" is possibly my favourite thing in the whole of musical history, and so, for all that you'll care, I'm afraid that you are now dead to me.

I'd post a pic of Mr. Wonderful if it weren't so hard to upload images.

Glad you dig my other theories though.
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« Reply #17 on: January 28, 2015, 06:20:11 PM »

Great topic. Did a similar one a couple years ago:

Brian's Codas
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« Reply #18 on: January 28, 2015, 06:25:24 PM »

Wah.  I generally have a lot of time for you and your madcap obsessions and theories, Mujan, but the playout of "Surf's Up" is possibly my favourite thing in the whole of musical history, and so, for all that you'll care, I'm afraid that you are now dead to me.
This.
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Mr. Cohen
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« Reply #19 on: January 28, 2015, 06:35:29 PM »

Y'all love that "na na na" bit that much?
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« Reply #20 on: January 28, 2015, 07:32:00 PM »

Great topic. Did a similar one a couple years ago:

Brian's Codas

And one that contains a solid start at listing all the "tags/codas" and thus could form the basis for a more detailed discussion/analysis.

As for "Marcella" etal, I'd love to see Billy chime in with what he found out about who did what on the CATP sessions. BW and Reiley have the credit for "Marcella" and "Mess of Help," but who laid out the final song sequence, arranged the instrumentation/vocals is still a bit unclear. We do know that Carl liked tags, and earlier he'd used one of his own on "Feel Flows."
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« Reply #21 on: January 28, 2015, 07:46:32 PM »

Y'all love that "na na na" bit that much?
That whole coda usually brings tears to my eyes. It's that good.
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« Reply #22 on: January 28, 2015, 10:14:34 PM »

"Surf's Up" works both ways, but Brian's decision to add a lyrics-based tag personifying the "children's song" is a complete vindication of the problematic "mosaic composition" approach. And, yes, the release from the complex, increasingly dark emotions stirred up as the song progresses is a moment that rarely fails to produce "tears of joy"--that contradictory emotional state that no one, but no one, captures better than Brian Wilson.
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« Reply #23 on: January 28, 2015, 10:32:39 PM »

Completely agree about the fade to Surf's Up. Never liked it. I think it'd be better to just fade out after the verse parts are sung as well. The "Na Na" lyrics are pretty bad to my ears and I hate how they and the recycled Child vocals are all you hear for a good couple seconds. Really leaves that song on a sour note, imo.

I'll be one of the few to sorta kinda agree with you. Way back in the early days of my BB fandom, I was really, really into the fade of Surf's Up ('71 version)... but perhaps later learning that it was grafted/shoehorned on there years after the fact (even with Brian's half-involvement), it didn't quite sit right with me anymore. It felt like someone doctored with the original intention for the ending. Drew a mustache on the Mona Lisa, so to speak. Even if there are some very pretty vocal parts on there nonetheless. Maybe that's in my own mind, I don't know. But I don't quite like the fade as much as I used to.

I guess that part of Surf's Up ('71 version) is a bit how I've grown to feel about much of the "additions" to BWPS as a whole, does anyone else see it that way too? They've both grown off me some.

However, I love love love the wordless vocal fade that Brian sings on the '66 demo version. It's very She Knows Me Too Well-ending-esque. I think that relatively stripped down way is closer to what it would have been released as SU (song) it had come out in '66/'67.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2015, 11:01:57 PM by CenturyDeprived » Logged
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« Reply #24 on: January 28, 2015, 11:09:47 PM »

Completely agree about the fade to Surf's Up. Never liked it. I think it'd be better to just fade out after the verse parts are sung as well. The "Na Na" lyrics are pretty bad to my ears and I hate how they and the recycled Child vocals are all you hear for a good couple seconds. Really leaves that song on a sour note, imo.

I'll be one of the few to sorta kinda agree with you. Way back in the early days of my BB fandom, I was really, really into the fade of Surf's Up ('71 version)... but perhaps later learning that it was grafted/shoehorned on there years after the fact (even with Brian's half-involvement), it didn't quite sit right with me anymore. It felt like someone doctored with the original intention for the ending. Drew a mustache on the Mona Lisa, so to speak. Even if there are some very pretty vocal parts on there nonetheless. Maybe that's in my own mind, I don't know. But I don't quite like the fade as much as I used to.

I guess that part of Surf's Up ('71 version) is a bit how I've grown to feel about much of the "additions" to BWPS as a whole, does anyone else see it that way too? They've both grown off me some.

However, I love love love the wordless vocal fade that Brian sings on the '66 demo version. It's very She Knows Me Too Well-ending-esque. I think that relatively stripped down way is closer to what it would have been released as SU (song) it had come out in '66/'67.

I completely agree with everything you said. I won't go into detail because it's irrelevant to this topic and I've done so in-depth in the past, but that was my experience with the SU fade and with BWPS exactly.

I think the Na Nas are pointless and just make it sound busy, the CIFOTM lyrics are alright but almost certainly not the original intent, but I do like the "and the children know the way" lyrics and think they'd sound good with just the "aahs" and wailing horn section from Talking Horns.

Anyway...

I'm not as well-versed on the Boys' output in the 70s except Sunflower and Love You. None of the fades on either album stood out to me as particularly bad or good. I definitely agree though that Brian was the master of tags in the 60s. I think he reached his zenith with Cabin Essence, in that regard.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2015, 11:11:22 PM by Mujan, B@st@rd Son of a Blue Wizard » Logged

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Aquarian SMiLE>HERE
Dumb Angel (Olorin Edition)>HERE
Dumb Angel [the Romestamo Cut]>HERE

& This is a new pet project Ive worked on, which combines Fritz Lang's classic film, Metropolis (1927) with The United States of America (1968) as a new soundtrack. More info is in the video description.
The American Metropolitan Circus>HERE
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