New Brian interview

[jlaird]

I WILL BE SURPRISED!!!!!

[Ron]

He insists it will be the greatest album of his career

 

Seriously.  Old people can't make good music, and that's a scientific fact.

Absolutely loved Paul Macca's last album, I think some of the songs on that qualified as "good". 

[Daniel S.]

Did Darian and Brian have a falling out?

Maybe Brian is mad at how Darian sequenced Smile?   

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Did Darian and Brian have a falling out?

Maybe Brian is mad at how Darian sequenced Smile?

As far as I know, Brian & Darian's not the problem here.

[jlaird]

Then what is the problem?

[the captain]

I thought McCartney's last album was pretty great though.

I thought it was more of the same.

Did Darian and Brian have a falling out?

Maybe Brian is mad at how Darian sequenced Smile?

Please. I'm sure the mad genius is sitting back thinking how he would've done so much better... Darian finished Smile. Brian didn't. Brian owes Darian and his group more than anyone ever wants to talk about. (Of course, they owe him, too...name recognition).

[Peter Reum]

The tone of this thread is at times off kilter. Brian loves Smile. He sequenced it with Darian. Brian produces Brian's music, Darian has input, but Brian is responsible for what is finally on the cd. Darian has always had a love of film composing, and now has a chance to do it. There is no falling out. He simply got an offer he couldn't refuse, at a time when Brian was not that busy.

[Jim McShane]

The tone of this thread is at times off kilter. Brian loves Smile. He sequenced it with Darian. Brian produces Brian's music, Darian has input, but Brian is responsible for what is finally on the cd. Darian has always had a love of film composing, and now has a chance to do it. There is no falling out. He simply got an offer he couldn't refuse, at a time when Brian was not that busy.

Don't forget the 'Mints did a bunch of work for the Austin Powers movie soundtrack too, it's not something brand new to DS and his comrades.

[Roger Ryan]

Exactly. These guys aren't married after all. Darian had a life before getting involved with Brian and has recorded as part of the Wondermints and played keyboards on tour for Heart while maintaining membership in the Brian Wilson Band. If the Disney deal keeps him too busy to work with Brian in the future, well...that's showbiz.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Brian loves Smile. He sequenced it with Darian. Brian produces Brian's music, Darian has input, but Brian is responsible for what is finally on the cd.

After watching the "Beautiful Dreamer" DVD, to say "Darian has input" is an understatement. Same with Jeff Foskett.

[theCOD]

I should have put a "rolling eyes" smiley or something after my post.  People never lose the ability to make good music... they lose interest, or inspiration.  I think SMiLE helped Brian get both back.  He sounds more and more like 60's Brian than 90's Brian these days.

Even if it's not the "greatest album of his career," it won't be another GIOMH.

[theCOD]

Brian loves Smile. He sequenced it with Darian. Brian produces Brian's music, Darian has input, but Brian is responsible for what is finally on the cd.

After watching the "Beautiful Dreamer" DVD, to say "Darian has input" is an understatement. Same with Jeff Foskett.

"Yes, I know that, unlike myself, you've actually met Brian Wilson, but this DVD here says..." 

[endofposts]

None of us were there, so it's all speculation.   David Leaf was around for "Smile," and "Beautiful Dreamer" is indicative of what happened as David chose to see it and show it.  I think Darian did carry a lot of the weight for "Smile."  Brian may have grown to love it, but he had very ambivalent feelings at first, to say the least.  He still doesn't want the original tapes released.  Darian reconstructed Brian's arrangements from the original tapes, and I'm not sure Brian was even that interested in sitting down and listening to them (the '66-'67 tapes), at least not in an extended way.  So, technically, you can say Brian produced "Smile," just because his original arrangements were copied so faithfully by Darian.  When it came to the sequencing, Darian and Brian did collaborate, or at least as shown on the documentary.  Though it appears that Darian played the songs for him, rather that sitting down and listening to the original tapes.  Brian also completed the one song with Van Dyke Parks.  Then, Darian led the band in the studio, with Brian there for input.  Brian probably worked with Darian on the final mixdown.  It was a combined effort, I'm sure, and the credits on the CD reflect that. 

[absinthe_boy]

OK so I am no more privileged than the majority of fans here in that my interaction with Brian is limited to him smiling at my camera lens a few times at one gig...

But my impression is very much that there were times when Brian had little interest...probably due to fears surrounding the SMiLE experience. During those times I am sure Darian held the project together. It seems this may have been at the very beginning, and again when the sequenced SMiLE was first rehearsed by the band.

At other times, Brian was fully into the project and in control. You only have to read interviews with such luminaries as Van Dyke Parks, Darian, Jeff, David Leaf and Brian himself to see that....and of course if you look at the footage taken by the time they actually got around to recording BWPS...Brian is clearly as much in control of that studio session as he ever was in 1966.

[Roger Ryan]

Actually, the scene in "Beautiful Dreamer" where Darian and Brian were discussing the sequencing of "Child Is Father Of The Man", "Surf's Up" etc. was staged for the camera a good  four or five months after "SMiLE" was premiered in London. Leaf needed more material on the creation of the new, complete "SMiLE" (Darian's handycam footage wasn't optimum), so he had Darian and Brian improvise something which is exactly what it looks like. By the accounts I heard, Brian went through all of the song titles of known material written in '66 and' 67 and determined which ones he wanted to be part of "SMiLE". From there, he and Darian listened to all of the relevant sessions and determined what parts went where. According to Darian, Brian was the one who determined that "Look" (Song For Children) would follow "Wonderful", recalled the melody line to "Do You Like Worms?" and was the one to contact Van Dyke Parks about completing new lyrics. Darian became a very important collaborator for the revisited "SMiLE", equally important in his own way as Van Dyke had been in '66.

Also, it has been noted that both Brian and Van Dyke Parks listened to a compilation of the original sessions edited together in a fashion that mimicked the final sequence prior to Parks working on his new lyrics.

[endofposts]

Every interview I've read with Darian and other band members seems to imply that Darian and the rest of the band pretty much led the sessions themselves, for the instrumental parts.  Brian would comment on them.  For example, when the band did "Surf's Up," Brian gave them a compliment: "Right the f*** on!"  He had to be led through the listening and sequencing sessions in baby steps, though he did remember and contribute things once he was in them.  It is his work, of course, but it probably never would have been done without the support of Darian and the others.  I'm not saying Brian is no longer competent enough to do it, because I've no doubt he is, but it wasn't a pleasant task and took a lot of nurturing and hard work from others to make it happen.  Darian and the other band members deserve a lot of credit.  There was a very enlightening 13-page interview with Darian at CrutchfieldAdvisor.com.  Here's a link to one particular page about the Smile sequencing sessions, and links to the other interview pages are also included:


http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-y2dTmQSIs7k/reviews/20041102/brian_wilson_smile.html?page=6

[the captain]

I'm growing a little weary of pointing this out (third time at least on this board)...

Oh you poor, poor thing. The effort for you to post that story to people who may not have heard must indeed be herculean. You've truly got not only our sympathies, but our enduring admiration.

Of course, you could go ahead and not post it. That might end your suffering.

[Ron]

You're such a negative person.  SMiLE

[Rerun]

I'm growing a little weary of pointing this out (third time at least on this board)...

Oh you poor, poor thing. The effort for you to post that story to people who may not have heard must indeed be herculean. You've truly got not only our sympathies, but our enduring admiration.

Of course, you could go ahead and not post it. That might end your suffering.

haha

[Roger Ryan]

I'm growing a little weary of pointing this out (third time at least on this board)...

Oh you poor, poor thing. The effort for you to post that story to people who may not have heard must indeed be herculean. You've truly got not only our sympathies, but our enduring admiration.

Of course, you could go ahead and not post it. That might end your suffering.

I'm afraid that opening statement was one of those things that didn't come out right when I posted it. I think I meant something more like "My apologies to those who may be tired of me bringing this up, but...". Message boards try to mimic conversation, but often we don't know the context others see our posts in or, despite the 25 or more emoticons available, it's difficult to determine whether a poster is intending to be sarcastic, satirical, etc.

Anyway, since I don't think I am growing weary of discussing all things "SMiLE" and appreciate Ron's advice, I've rewritten the previous post.

Oh, and just so this post doesn't completely run off-topic into self-absorption, let me add that I agree with Forget Marie that Darian and the rest of Brian's band played a huge effort in the realization of a completed "SMiLE".

[the captain]

Sorry. I couldn't resist. It's a character flaw in me.