Brian & Dennis on ADULT CHILD - UK 1977

[Steve Latshaw]

Found this on the net from the August 13, 1977 issue of Sounds Magazine... a UK interview when the band was in town for the CBS Convention show.  I haven't read this since August of 1977, when I saw it in the current issue at the SIU University library (Carbondale, IL):

The Beach Boys: I Wanna Be Where The Boys Are
Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 August 1977
"SOME KAHLUA, we need a coupla pitchers of milk..." "Send up a bottle of milk. O.K., cartons. Four cartons. And some honey. And a coffee. No, two. Make that four."
Dennis Wilson talks to room service in brisk, businesslike tones. Like there's a strong possibility the person on the other end of the line might be some kind of idiot child. It's the voice of experience; only jetset businessmen, and rock 'n' rollers are attuned to hotels as a way of life. In a (theoretically) self-sufficient environment, there are always advantages and disadvantages.
Room Service is a definite advantage.
But they always seem to get the orders screwed up.
That's a definite disadvantage...
Dennis knows that he's handsome. You can see in the way he moves that if you're a woman, he'll expect you to like him. His manner invites flattering intimacy; that is, if he darts a lingering glance, he expects you to enjoy it and – perhaps – feel flattered...
Not implying that he doesn't move freely with men. Slightly more difficult to judge, though, because I didn't see him talk to any man who wasn't in his pay.
"Will you do me a favour? Will you call Roger and say I'm gonna be late, cos I'm really enjoying this interview. Hey, you can come in here, we're not hiding!"
***
The publicists gave me a pep talk in the lift. Brian wants to do interviews, the band want Brian to do interviews. Normally he doubles up with another Boy, but today Mike Love's too busy meditating, so...But I mustn't be alarmed. Brian is feeling very cheerful, very up.
WHERE DO you think Love You stands in relation to 15 Big Ones?
Brian: "Very good. I think it was a step forward, a very big one."
Would you agree that lyrically, it's very removed from contemporary themes?
Brian: "Yes."
Yes.
"In some ways, yes."
You wrote all the songs, didn't you? Did they flow easily?
Brian: "Yes. Uh huh."
Brian delivers the monosyllables of assent with such calm rationality that he gives a confusing impression of having said a lot more than he actually has. As if he's given you a well thought out, finely-worded explanation that you've inexplicably failed to hear.
Did you feel that you had a lot of things pent up inside you for the past few years, a lot of thoughts you wanted to express?
Brian: "Yes. Uh huh. I had that a lot."
How about 'Roller Skating Child'? What pictures did you have in your mind when you wrote that?
Brian: "Just a vision of someone that could rollerskate and would like to rollerskate. We just wanted to do something that had a beat and had a flavour of rollerskating. Because we all go rollerskating a lot, so we decided to do that in that fashion, in that kind of way.
"We thought it would be a single but it wasn't. We thought it would be."
Brian is painstakingly polite. Well brought up. Remember, politeness can be as effective a social armour as gobbing. Far slimmer than he used to be, he nonetheless conveys the impression of bulk, as if the absent poundage were still hovering around the slender outline in astral form. He moves like the noble grizzly bears you read about in sagas of life in the Old West. Arms swinging by his side, as if he's constrained by walls, by presentation baskets of fruit and flowers, but knows that he should play the game.
Being interviewed = Being normal. You've been performing a lot more lately, haven't you?
Brian: "Yes. We get a lot out of it. We get a lot of pleasure from it."
***
"THEY HAVE surfboards in Iowa, you know. Surfboards, hot rods – that's nothing compared to some of the things we put out. Seriously."
Dennis's blue eyes flash sternly. "I just think that whatever you put out, you should think about. Yes, I suppose I do feel a responsibility. To myself. Absolutely. Brian's responsibility is – was – he chose to be the writer/producer for the Beach Boys.
"Right now I'm in a real big recording phase, the live shows are slowing down. I'd like to see them stop, do maybe ten a year.
"You know what I love to play best? 'Good Vibrations'. It's my favourite to play. My least favourite is 'California Saga'. 'Eating scorched meat in the desert'," he quotes, mocking.
"15 Big Ones? I had a lot of fights over it, because I thought that Brian should be making original music. You really want to know? 15 Big Ones is a piece of sh*t. That's the truth. I didn't enjoy making it, and that's the only one...
"I think Mo Ostin (US Warner Bros biggie) murdered Brian Wilson on that album. Purposely. Upfront. He did not promote that record, and told me he wasn't going to. He said he didn't like it...that's tragic. I felt so bad for Brian.
"You know when I really turned on to Brian? When we made Summer Days (And Summer Nights). A song called 'Let Him Run Wild.' It was like he turned on in a different kind of way, the concept of putting a track together, it had a different kind of masculinity to it." Spot the pressure...
"We've finished recording the new album. Maybe we'll add to it. It's good to go back to things. It leans towards Pet Sounds, there are songs about smoking, about being in love, about getting off your butt and being healthy...
"You want a drink? Dig in. Look at that sunset, it's a big huge orange ball."
Dennis carefully tops his Kahlua coffee liqueur with milk. The glass chinks with ice-cubes, American style.
"This drink reminds me of Mexico. I love Mexico. I have a little trailer down there, a '53 trailer and a '53 truck, and I tow it down to Mexico. Then I pay the guy 50 cents a day, and just park it under a tree. San Philippe, overlooking the Gulf of Cortez. It's unbelievable, like being in outer space."
***
BRIAN, HOW do you feel when you listen back to your early albums?
Brian: "I get a nice memory, a nice feeling sometimes."
Do you relate that closely to Holland and Surf's Up that the Beach Boys cut without you?
Brian: "No. Really, I can't."
In retrospect, do you feel that 15 Big Ones was a marking time album?
Brian: "I felt it was a very sparkly album. It had a lot of sparkle to it."
As we talk Brian stares obsessively at my cassette player. He looks up and risks a big, wholesome smile, then stares transfixed at the cassette player again. His legs jiggle while he talks.
Brian: "I usually write in the day. I'm very much a daytime person. I get up at 7.00 in the morning. Yes, I do lead an outdoor life. I run a lot and get a lot of exercise."
Do you enjoy doing interviews?
Brian: "Yes I do. It's one of my favourite things in the world."
Brian's unflappable politeness extends to the way he terminates the interview. After a perturbing 10 minutes of strained conversation. "I'm gonna lay down, I'm kinda tired," he says simply. He stands up, stretching to his full height, shakes hands courteously, before ordering a hamburger from Room Service, and vanishing into the bedroom.
***
DENNIS EXPOUNDS seriously, his voice gruff and low. "Being a family has everything to do with being together as long as we have. Being emotionally close. Being able to be yourself. It's hard to be yourself at your most angry moment or your most joyful. Then there's singing harmonies and stuff...I just feel so comfortable around them. I feel safe, very safe. That's what it is.
"I just made an album, and when it comes out, you listen to it and tell me what you think. I made it in my studio, it's home-made, ones-man band stuff. But I don't play guitar so I have guitar players, and horn players. I wrote all the songs. I generally write a lot, but just for myself. Brian is the Beach Boy."
***
Brian: "We're basically a very simple group. We do simple things. Simple songs."

[Eric Aniversario]

Fascinating article, great find! Thanks for sharing!

[Cool Cool Water]

Thanks for sharing that!

[DonnyL]

That's a good one; thanks!

[Steve Latshaw]

I remember reading in either an introduction to this article... or an article published in the NME at the same time... the author noted that Brian had brought an acetate or test pressing of ADULT CHILD and played it for him in the hotel room.

[Alan Smith]

Thanks for taking the time to post that, Steve - some great tidbits and little nuances in there.

Cool that Brian & Denny, both going through creative periods, got to double up here.

[Lee Marshall]

Dennis' is the absolute BEST/most accurate review of 15 Big-Uns I have EVER read.  Succinct and right to the point.  And impossible to argue with.

Only Brian could have said 'it' with fewer syllables.

[Lowbacca]

Thank you so much for this, Steve.

[Dudd]

Lovely interview, thanks for sharing.

[phirnis]

...
"15 Big Ones? I had a lot of fights over it, because I thought that Brian should be making original music. You really want to know? 15 Big Ones is a piece of sh*t. That's the truth. I didn't enjoy making it, and that's the only one...
"I think Mo Ostin (US Warner Bros biggie) murdered Brian Wilson on that album. Purposely. Upfront. He did not promote that record, and told me he wasn't going to. He said he didn't like it...that's tragic. I felt so bad for Brian.
...

What album is Dennis talking about in the 2nd part? Still 15 Big Ones?

[Steve Latshaw]

I believe Dennis is referring to The Beach Boys Love you when he talks about the album Mo Ostin refused to promote.  WB promoted the heck out of 15 Big Ones.  Mike even says on stage at the CBS convention, when introducing AIRPLANE, "...this is my favorite song from the album Warner Brothers didn't ship..."

[Moon Dawg]

...
"15 Big Ones? I had a lot of fights over it, because I thought that Brian should be making original music. You really want to know? 15 Big Ones is a piece of sh*t. That's the truth. I didn't enjoy making it, and that's the only one...
"I think Mo Ostin (US Warner Bros biggie) murdered Brian Wilson on that album. Purposely. Upfront. He did not promote that record, and told me he wasn't going to. He said he didn't like it...that's tragic. I felt so bad for Brian.
...

What album is Dennis talking about in the 2nd part? Still 15 Big Ones?

 Good question. 15 BIG ONES was heavily promoted but LOVE YOU hardly at all, likely due to the group signing with CBS and the uncommercial nature of the music.

[metal flake paint]

Thanks for sharing, Steve.

Whilst WB did heavily promote 15 Big Ones, nothing beats a Love You party cake!

[phirnis]

If this is indeed about Love You then that's a real tragedy. We can't tell if it would've been huge with some big promotional effort backing it up and personally I doubt it. But still, this might've been the straw that broke the camel's back with regards to BW a) being willing to take the role of the group's actual leader and b) creating pop music of an experimental ilk.

[CenturyDeprived]

If this is indeed about Love You then that's a real tragedy. We can't tell if it would've been huge with some big promotional effort backing it up and personally I doubt it. But still, this could've been the straw that broke the camel's back with regards to BW a) being willing to take the role of the group's actual leader and b) creating pop music of an experimental ilk.

What would have happened if Love You had been the '76 BW comeback album (in place of 15BO)? If it had the 15BO level of promo, and Roller Skating Child had been pushed heavily as a single, do y'all think it could have been a bit of a hit?

[phirnis]

I believe it's almost impossible to tell from today's perspective. Personally I absolutely love the album but I don't think it would've gone higher than top 30 at best, reaching some kind of respectable but not spectacular peak comparable to Holland and Surf's Up. Just a guess, though.

[Lee Marshall]

Century D asked..."If it had the 15BO level of promo, and Roller Skating Child had been pushed heavily as a single, do y'all think it could have been a bit of a hit?"

Doubt it.  '15...make that 3 or 4 Big Ones' had 'Rock 'n' Roll Music' on it.  [HIT record], 'It's OK' [Top 30 hit], 'Had to Phone Ya' and 'Palisades Park' [which I like ]  'Love You' had... ... ... ... ... NO hits. [regardless of what year it would have been released.]  I 'like' 'Love You' better now than I did when it first came out.  Back then?  I loathed it.  Sounded like a "teaching little fingers to play" album.  [like someone was re-learning HOW to write songs and bring them to life in a real-live recording studio.]

I now recognize that there are a couple of songs included which rise above being merely 'filler'...but not many and they don't rise THAT high that anything would have made even # 40 on the national charts.  It just wasn't and isn't good enough.  Gotta be the most over-rated album of the 70s...by anybody.

[Micha]

If this is indeed about Love You then that's a real tragedy. We can't tell if it would've been huge with some big promotional effort backing it up and personally I doubt it. But still, this could've been the straw that broke the camel's back with regards to BW a) being willing to take the role of the group's actual leader and b) creating pop music of an experimental ilk.

What would have happened if Love You had been the '76 BW comeback album (in place of 15BO)? If it had the 15BO level of promo, and Roller Skating Child had been pushed heavily as a single, do y'all think it could have been a bit of a hit?

Personally I don't think so. And personally I doubt Dennis and Carl were happy to be kicked out of the creative department by the decision to make Brian the absolute producer again, even though they from all accounts we know loved their brother dearly.

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

How about 'Roller Skating Child'? What pictures did you have in your mind when you wrote that?
Brian: "Just a vision of someone that could rollerskate and would like to rollerskate.

I KNEW it!   

[phirnis]

Century D asked..."If it had the 15BO level of promo, and Roller Skating Child had been pushed heavily as a single, do y'all think it could have been a bit of a hit?"

Doubt it.  '15...make that 3 or 4 Big Ones' had 'Rock 'n' Roll Music' on it.  [HIT record], 'It's OK' [Top 30 hit], 'Had to Phone Ya' and 'Palisades Park' [which I like ]  'Love You' had... ... ... ... ... NO hits. [regardless of what year it would have been released.]  I 'like' 'Love You' better now than I did when it first came out.  Back then?  I loathed it.  Sounded like a "teaching little fingers to play" album.  [like someone was re-learning HOW to write songs and bring them to life in a real-live recording studio.]

I now recognize that there are a couple of songs included which rise above being merely 'filler'...but not many and they don't rise THAT high that anything would have made even # 40 on the national charts.  It just wasn't and isn't good enough.  Gotta be the most over-rated album of the 70s...by anybody.

Overrated by who? Some hardcore BW/BB fans love it (whereas others from that same relatively small group of people don't seem to like it much at all) and the man himself has called it a favorite numerous times. Other than that: it didn't sell, it's not commonly regarded as a classic, it doesn't ever show up in any Mojo or RS lists of the "greatest albums of all time" and most people aren't even aware it exists.

[buddhahat]

Thanks for sharing this fascinating arricle.

"We've finished recording the new album. Maybe we'll add to it. It's good to go back to things. It leans towards Pet Sounds, there are songs about smoking, about being in love, about getting off your butt and being healthy..."

^^ Great quote.

[Michael Edward Osbourne]

Do you enjoy doing interviews?
Brian: "Yes I do. It's one of my favourite things in the world."
 

[Steve Latshaw]

<<Overrated by who? Some hardcore BW/BB fans love it (whereas others from that same relatively small group of people don't seem to like it much at all) and the man himself has called it a favorite numerous times. Other than that: it didn't sell, it's not commonly regarded as a classic, it doesn't ever show up in any Mojo or RS lists of the "greatest albums of all time" and most people aren't even aware it exists.>>

I happen to love Love You but I would agree it's over-rated.  And under-produced.  Roller Skating Child could have been a hit had it been finished... and Airplane might have been one of the all time classics with a more lush, Sunflower type of production.

But in the Spring of 1977 there was nothing even remotely commercial about that album.  It sounded like nothing on the radio at that time.  I was a High School Senior; my girlfriend at the time was also heavy into music and the Beach Boys.  All of the local record stores at the time were having trouble getting the album.  One local store didn't bother to order it because they - literally - didn't know about it.  Many others had ordered 15 Big Ones because they initially thought it was another greatest hits package.  But we played Love You for interested friends, etc., and none of those kids liked it.  Quite a few said "This doesn't sound like the Beach Boys."  The only tracks that held any interest for them were Roller Skating Child, because they recognized Mike Love's voice... and Good Time, because it had a falsetto in it.  We didn't get "it sucks" but we got a lot of "that sounds weird."  And it did.

Certainly, most of those friends, at that time, were into the Eagles, Chicago, Boston, Aerosmith, Bee Gees, disco, etc. - but not this album.  It wasn't even remotely accessible to the average listener or radio programmer.  It wasn't until 1982, when I was in radio and we were playing a lot of English synth band stuff, that people began to come around to Love You and "get" it.

As for ADULT CHILD, hearing it now, I really enjoy it as an interesting curio.  There are some really good songs on that record, like Still I Dream of It and It's Over Now (of course), and It's Trying to Say, which may be my favorite Dennis vocal, at least right now.  I've never heard him so upbeat.  It has a wonderful, light, almost English music hall feel.  I could imagine Davy Jones singing it in some alternate Monkees universe ala Daddy's Song.  And I think it could easily get movie placement, perhaps even in a Pixar animated film.  It's just so delightful and childlike.  Lines is one of those songs that, with a finished production, could have been a minor classic.  But again, this is an unfinished record, with very little actual group vocals.  I like it.  It's Brian doing the best he can to assemble a final Warner/Reprise album while Mike's off in Switzerland.

But I guess if Mike came back and said in a rage, after he heard it, "What the f-ck are you doing??!!" - well, I get that, too.

[Jim Rockford]

Century D asked..."If it had the 15BO level of promo, and Roller Skating Child had been pushed heavily as a single, do y'all think it could have been a bit of a hit?"

Doubt it.  '15...make that 3 or 4 Big Ones' had 'Rock 'n' Roll Music' on it.  [HIT record], 'It's OK' [Top 30 hit], 'Had to Phone Ya' and 'Palisades Park' [which I like ]  'Love You' had... ... ... ... ... NO hits. [regardless of what year it would have been released.]  I 'like' 'Love You' better now than I did when it first came out.  Back then?  I loathed it.  Sounded like a "teaching little fingers to play" album.  [like someone was re-learning HOW to write songs and bring them to life in a real-live recording studio.]

I now recognize that there are a couple of songs included which rise above being merely 'filler'...but not many and they don't rise THAT high that anything would have made even # 40 on the national charts.  It just wasn't and isn't good enough.  Gotta be the most over-rated album of the 70s...by anybody.

I gotta agree with you. There's some good musical moments on the album, but I don't really understand all the praise it gets. As blasphemous as it is, I enjoy MIU better. 

[Micha]

As blasphemous as it is, I enjoy MIU better. 

Can enjoyment be blasphemous? You like what you like. I love the snare drum sound of the MIU sessions, and the singing is much better to me on MIU.