BWPS: How much input did Brian have?

[Howdy Doody]

BWPS is a collage put together by his bandmates and Mr. Parks to honor the album that never was and sadly freinds never will be.  Still, it is a awesome listen at times and I feel BW put his heart and soul into the collage.

[Dan Lega]

Excellent question, and one to which everyone has their own preferred answer. I've a feeling the truth - whatever it may be, from "Brian did it all" to "Brian was just there for the cameras" (both manifestly untrue, of course) - will emerge in time. Applying the methods of Sherlock Holmes to the material of Brian Wilson is, at best, an exercise in frustration and driving down dead ends.

One thing that sould be writ large across the top of this, and every other page concerning this subject - from the go-get Darian has stated many times that the material performed live and on the CD was chosen because it would work best in a live context. This is a Smile, but not the Smile.

     I've only just now ventured to look at this topic, and I have no idea if I'll ever make it through more than these first few posts, especially seeing as how I just have to respond to the second post, which is by none other than my good friend Andrew!  Andrew, I'll admit that when Brian and Darian first started on this enterprise that the goal was to just cobble together a version that could be played live.  But from what I can see in the end product and from subsequent discussion and especially from the fact that Van Dyke Parks was brought in, I don't see any evidence that the SMiLE that was presented in concert is any less than a true attempt to FINISH the album!  Please show any other evidence that SMiLE 2004 might be watered down for a concert presentation only.  Were there parts that were left out because of the difficulty of playing?  If parts were left out, then why didn't they put them back into the CD version?  Sorry, Andrew, but this idea doesn't fly with me one bit.  As I said, it does look like they started it that way, but from all evidence I've seen is that the concept changed and they truly tried to finish SMiLE as best as they could.  Show me one part that was left out because you think it was too difficult to play or sing and maybe I'll change my mind.


           Love and merci,   Dan Lega

[Dan Lega]

I believe that over 95% of Brian's contribution (I'll leave 5% for "That sounds great" and "Could I hear that part again") - whether it be for the live presentation or the recording of the CD - was simply an exercise in karaoke.

Brian did ALL of his work on SMiLE in 1966-67; he never re-visited it again for any length of time. 2004's BWPS was the work of Darian Sahanaja, Jeff Foskett, and some Van Dyke Parks.

The way Brian's promotional team made it appear that Brian "finished" SMiLE was the best "Brian Is Back" campaign yet. And, in my view, it rendered the project a fraud.

    Your thinking that Jeff Foskett had anything to do with sequencing the new SMiLE just renders the rest of your observations moribund, also.  It may be true that Darian did it all, but I've never heard one bit of evidence that Jeff Foskett had made even the tiniest of contributions to SMiLE 2004.  Yes, he announced he was going to be helping with putting SMiLE together, but after that the only evidence we have is that Darian (and possibly Van Dyke) helped with the sequence, and that Jeff was totally out of the sequencing loop.  Jeff has never said he helped with the sequencing.

     But let's look a little more at Darian and Brian sequencing SMiLE.  Suppose Darian came up with an idea that certain songs might work together well, and then he and Brian agreed or disagreed.  Once they agreed, then they sat around and played with those songs in different sequences until Brian said he liked that or didn't like that.  Now, would that be Darian or Brian sequencing it?  To me it would be both.  Now if Darian just came in with a sequence and Brian just listened to it and said "okay", then, yeah, that would be as if Darian did all the sequencing.  But I don't think Darian worked that way.  I think he wanted to involve Brian in the best way that he could, and I think Brian was interested.  Obviously, you don't think Brian was interested at all.  But please don't say that Jeff Foskett sequenced it, there isn't one tiny tidbit of evidence for that scenario. 

As far as what did Brian do, I will say this: I'd bet my working kidney that he came up with the "hot as hell" lyric, which is probably something he came up with spur-of-the-moment. It doesn't sound like a VDP lyric at all; if it did, it'd be more like "the sun beats down on the clown as the unicorns sip from the azure sea" or some other kind of Lewis Caroll-ish bit.

There. I said that too.

      First we get Jeff Foskett helping with the sequencing and then we get Brian writing the "Hot as hell" lyric?  Whew!  Van Dyke has forthrightedly stated that he came up with the idea of putting a lyric in "Water", and that he himself wrote the lyric.  This info is not hard to find.

              Love and merci,   Dan Lega

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Just for the sake of throwing a pebble to see what the ripples look like...

Alan Jardine has acetates too.

Well, someone needs to ask *him* then 

Thank you for insulting me personally in this thread not less than three times, including this one, and thank you for leaving.  Insulting people is not presenting an argument.

I can see you're not actually listening to what people are actually saying, and so I bow out of this lovely conversation gracefully.

There is a lack of respect towards Durrie Parks in some of this thread, because like it or not, it's her property and there's nothing anyone can do about it.  I'm probably wrong to chalk it up to sexism, but I just wonder if she were a guy if people would feel differently, or at least people would feel less inclined to try to "persuade" her repeatedly, when she's already given a no or a non-reponse.   Durrie worked in the record industry, so she knows what she has and likely knows how to take care of things such as acetates.

Whoa...I missed the insults...Joe, did you delete them? 'Cause I don't really see any actual *insults*.

I have no idea where the sexism argument comes in. One person said he asked her, and that's it (unless I missed something). I don't see the lack of respect. Now, if someone had said something like "b*tch better give my my motherf*cking acetates", then that'd be different.

Meh...everybody play nicely.

[SMiLEY]

I believe that over 95% of Brian's contribution (I'll leave 5% for "That sounds great" and "Could I hear that part again") - whether it be for the live presentation or the recording of the CD - was simply an exercise in karaoke.

Brian did ALL of his work on SMiLE in 1966-67; he never re-visited it again for any length of time. 2004's BWPS was the work of Darian Sahanaja, Jeff Foskett, and some Van Dyke Parks.

The way Brian's promotional team made it appear that Brian "finished" SMiLE was the best "Brian Is Back" campaign yet. And, in my view, it rendered the project a fraud.

    Your thinking that Jeff Foskett had anything to do with sequencing the new SMiLE just renders the rest of your observations moribund, also.  It may be true that Darian did it all, but I've never heard one bit of evidence that Jeff Foskett had made even the tiniest of contributions to SMiLE 2004.  Yes, he announced he was going to be helping with putting SMiLE together, but after that the only evidence we have is that Darian (and possibly Van Dyke) helped with the sequence, and that Jeff was totally out of the sequencing loop.  Jeff has never said he helped with the sequencing.

     But let's look a little more at Darian and Brian sequencing SMiLE.  Suppose Darian came up with an idea that certain songs might work together well, and then he and Brian agreed or disagreed.  Once they agreed, then they sat around and played with those songs in different sequences until Brian said he liked that or didn't like that.  Now, would that be Darian or Brian sequencing it?  To me it would be both.  Now if Darian just came in with a sequence and Brian just listened to it and said "okay", then, yeah, that would be as if Darian did all the sequencing.  But I don't think Darian worked that way.  I think he wanted to involve Brian in the best way that he could, and I think Brian was interested.  Obviously, you don't think Brian was interested at all.  But please don't say that Jeff Foskett sequenced it, there isn't one tiny tidbit of evidence for that scenario. 

As far as what did Brian do, I will say this: I'd bet my working kidney that he came up with the "hot as hell" lyric, which is probably something he came up with spur-of-the-moment. It doesn't sound like a VDP lyric at all; if it did, it'd be more like "the sun beats down on the clown as the unicorns sip from the azure sea" or some other kind of Lewis Caroll-ish bit.

There. I said that too.

      First we get Jeff Foskett helping with the sequencing and then we get Brian writing the "Hot as hell" lyric?  Whew!  Van Dyke has forthrightedly stated that he came up with the idea of putting a lyric in "Water", and that he himself wrote the lyric.  This info is not hard to find.

              Love and merci,   Dan Lega

Yay! Dan, I've been mentally paging you for some time now! There is a boatload of horse-sh*t like the posts you just answered. Good luck!

[SMiLEY]

Thank you for insulting me personally in this thread not less than three times, including this one, and thank you for leaving.  Insulting people is not presenting an argument.

I can see you're not actually listening to what people are actually saying, and so I bow out of this lovely conversation gracefully.

There is a lack of respect towards Durrie Parks in some of this thread, because like it or not, it's her property and there's nothing anyone can do about it.  I'm probably wrong to chalk it up to sexism, but I just wonder if she were a guy if people would feel differently, or at least people would feel less inclined to try to "persuade" her repeatedly, when she's already given a no or a non-reponse.   Durrie worked in the record industry, so she knows what she has and likely knows how to take care of things such as acetates.

Acetates are not magnetic tape, and don't deteriorate in the same way.  They can last for decades (check out E-Bay for the large number of playable acetates for sale).  They won't warp like a vinyl record, since they have a metal base.  The worse thing you can do with them is play them, since the grooves wear out very quickly.  They also get scratched more easily with handling.  The best thing to do with them is not touch them.  If Durrie is not touching them, then they're very likely to be okay.  It's strictly up to her if she's going to allow anyone to digitize them, which should be done by a professional archivist who would know the best way to handle and play the acetate during the process.  If anyone is interested in maintaining the acetates for the sake of posterity, you should be grateful that she hasn't allowed fans to buy them, look at them, or listen to them. 

Wow! No one insulted you. But I'm getting tempted...

As stated by Bob Hanes, the BRI team has been speaking with Durrie about the acetates, which is all any of us wanted in first damn place!

edit -- this is where I gave in to temptation and got insulting. Deleted because you DO have one of my favorite Lee Hazlewood songs as your screen-name.

[endofposts]

Well, I felt insulted by the manner in which he presented his arguments. 

"You don't grasp the concept!" 

"You'd let the kids play in the Smithsonian among the documents!"

"Period! End of story!"  and my favorite, "FULL STOP!"  Like a frigging telegram.

But I apologize to "Old Rake."  I was being silly, particularly in my argument about sexism.  I know he means well and is one of the resident experts.  One person's "anal" is another person's "Smile Scholarship."  And I mean no insult by that.

[SMiLEY]

Can't speak for Jon, but I always accept 'anal' as a mere statement of fact, rather than an insult. 

I think we are really just grousing about the lack of info about what, if anything, is going on with the SMiLE box. We don't even know if there is one, much less what it would contain. If it came out sans Durrie's acetates, it would seem an opportunity lost, for her and us.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Well, I felt insulted by the manner in which he presented his arguments.

"You don't grasp the concept!"

"You'd let the kids play in the Smithsonian among the documents!"

"Period! End of story!"  and my favorite, "FULL STOP!"  Like a frigging telegram.

But I apologize to "Old Rake."  I was being silly, particularly in my argument about sexism.  I know he means well and is one of the resident experts.  One person's "anal" is another person's "Smile Scholarship."  And I mean no insult by that.

I know,I know. I was just hoping there *wasn't* any insulting going on, 'cause I'm kinda crackin' down on that. I think its more of mutual frustration on both sides, as I think you folks are disagreeing about two different things. It happens.

Wow! No one insulted you. But I'm getting tempted...

As stated by Bob Hanes, the BRI team has been speaking with Durrie about the acetates, which is all any of us wanted in first damn place!

edit -- this is where I gave in to temptation and got insulting. Deleted because you DO have one of my favorite Lee Hazlewood songs as your screen-name.

Thanks for the self-edit. And no, I'm not being sarcastic...I mean, really, THANK YOU. I'm in a lazy mood today

As for the "Blue Hawaii" lyric that I thought Brian wrote (the intro), I honestly thought it was a Brian-ism. Either way, still think it's a cool-as-hell joint.

[sailonsailor]

Hey, all. I've been reading this site for awhile, but haven't posted until now. I'll step gingerly into this, because with SMILE, it just strikes me that there will be only questions, never answers. I would be interested in your views on one thought I have: Does the never-ending fascination with SMILE in any way diminish PET SOUNDS? Because for all the talk of the "lost masterpiece" of SMILE, my opinion is that even if Brian had completed it, it wouldn't have necessarily been a greater artistic achievement than PS. And I wonder if all of our interest and investment in what SMILE could have been/should have been makes us a little blind to the fact that he DID create a masterpiece without any kind of interference and it's called PET SOUNDS. Yes, yes, I know this is a SMILE site, but it intrigues me that PET SOUNDS, which is a masterpiece of which there should be no dispute, has never engendered the level of fascination/obsession/whatevah that SMILE still does. I guess what you don't have is always more interesting than what you have.

By the way, I've finished reading Peter Carlin's book, and he does add a lot of new textures to the ongoing literature on the Beach Boys.  One thing he said at the beginning of the book really struck me, since it kind of relates to this board: He said the one thing all BW fans want him to do is to look back and that's the one thing Brian wishes to never do. So, there will never be any sense of satisfaction, perhaps, on either side.

   Also, Carlin's book made me realize that we really need a good bio of Mike Love. I'm no fan of Love's actions over the years, but I'd like to hear more from him, whether I agree with it or not. Carlin's book, in its need to cover a lot of ground, didn't have time to look into Love's contributions . I also wish somebody would write a full book on the pre-PS years, and look in-depth into Brian's work with Jan Berry and other outside artists and give a real feel into the studio work of that era. I've never read a book on just the sheer creation of the music that satisfied me (To his credit, Carlin's book made me feel some of Brian's creative process more than previous books have).

OK, I've covered a lot of stuff that's probably off topic to this thread, but it was on my mind....

[matt-zeus]

I contacted Mike Love, and he was really warm and forthcoming, and has invited everyone over to his for afternoon tea, and to discuss and listen to his private SMiLE tapes. He says he's got the proper sequenced version which he made in 1987 (with help from John Stamos).

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I contacted Mike Love, and he was really warm and forthcoming, and has invited everyone over to his for afternoon tea, and to discuss and listen to his private SMiLE tapes. He says he's got the proper sequenced version which he made in 1987 (with help from John Stamos).

[Matt Howlett]

I contacted Mike Love, and he was really warm and forthcoming, and has invited everyone over to his for afternoon tea, and to discuss and listen to his private SMiLE tapes. He says he's got the proper sequenced version which he made in 1987 (with help from John Stamos).

John Stamos would have suggested that they record a video of them performing it live, with Stamos wandering around stage with his Telecaster acting like he doesn't know what he's doing. If you've ever seen a concert with Stamos, you'll know what I'm talking about. 

[matt-zeus]

I'm really glad I don't   

[Roger Ryan]

Hey, all. I've been reading this site for awhile, but haven't posted until now. I'll step gingerly into this, because with SMILE, it just strikes me that there will be only questions, never answers. I would be interested in your views on one thought I have: Does the never-ending fascination with SMILE in any way diminish PET SOUNDS? Because for all the talk of the "lost masterpiece" of SMILE, my opinion is that even if Brian had completed it, it wouldn't have necessarily been a greater artistic achievement than PS. And I wonder if all of our interest and investment in what SMILE could have been/should have been makes us a little blind to the fact that he DID create a masterpiece without any kind of interference and it's called PET SOUNDS. Yes, yes, I know this is a SMILE site, but it intrigues me that PET SOUNDS, which is a masterpiece of which there should be no dispute, has never engendered the level of fascination/obsession/whatevah that SMILE still does. I guess what you don't have is always more interesting than what you have.

Well, "General On Topic Discussions" means anything Beach Boys/Brian Wilson-related, not just talk about "SMiLE". "Pet Sounds" has been discussed in-depth at times on this board, but your last line in the quote above does sum it up: "SMiLE" engenders more discussion/speculation/arguments than "Pet Sounds" because the original sessions for it in '66/'67 did not result in a finished album. I seriously doubt anyone here dislikes "Pet Sounds"; I think there may be quite a few who do think it's better than the culmulative "SMiLE" material. Personally, I love "Pet Sounds" and the stereo remix release a decade ago was almost as exciting for me as hearing a completed "SMiLE". But I still love the "SMiLE" sessions more and, in concept, I find BWPS to be better than "Pet Sounds" (of course, nothing can compete with the great Beach Boys vocals/harmonies circa 1966). Perhaps it's because the subject matter and song arrangements of the "Pet Sounds" material had been done before (just not as accomplished), but the "SMiLE" subject matter and arrangements were something completely new, completely different.

[sailonsailor]

Roger, I can't really argue with you. i've been sitting here listening to my Vigatone two-fer and the music is indeed groundbreaking and glorious. I wish I could get more excited by BWPS, I liked it in concert much better than the finished product. I think it's the somewhat pristine qualities of the harmonies as opposed to the warmer blend of Brian's voice on the boots or what the Boys did with/could have done on some of the songs. But, as always, this is splitting hairs.  Of course, I gather that splitting hairs is pretty much what this site is all about.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I believe that over 95% of Brian's contribution (I'll leave 5% for "That sounds great" and "Could I hear that part again") - whether it be for the live presentation or the recording of the CD - was simply an exercise in karaoke.

Brian did ALL of his work on SMiLE in 1966-67; he never re-visited it again for any length of time. 2004's BWPS was the work of Darian Sahanaja, Jeff Foskett, and some Van Dyke Parks.

The way Brian's promotional team made it appear that Brian "finished" SMiLE was the best "Brian Is Back" campaign yet. And, in my view, it rendered the project a fraud.

    Your thinking that Jeff Foskett had anything to do with sequencing the new SMiLE just renders the rest of your observations moribund, also.  It may be true that Darian did it all, but I've never heard one bit of evidence that Jeff Foskett had made even the tiniest of contributions to SMiLE 2004.  Yes, he announced he was going to be helping with putting SMiLE together, but after that the only evidence we have is that Darian (and possibly Van Dyke) helped with the sequence, and that Jeff was totally out of the sequencing loop.  Jeff has never said he helped with the sequencing.

     But let's look a little more at Darian and Brian sequencing SMiLE.  Suppose Darian came up with an idea that certain songs might work together well, and then he and Brian agreed or disagreed.  Once they agreed, then they sat around and played with those songs in different sequences until Brian said he liked that or didn't like that.  Now, would that be Darian or Brian sequencing it?  To me it would be both.  Now if Darian just came in with a sequence and Brian just listened to it and said "okay", then, yeah, that would be as if Darian did all the sequencing.  But I don't think Darian worked that way.  I think he wanted to involve Brian in the best way that he could, and I think Brian was interested.  Obviously, you don't think Brian was interested at all.  But please don't say that Jeff Foskett sequenced it, there isn't one tiny tidbit of evidence for that scenario. 

      First we get Jeff Foskett helping with the sequencing and then we get Brian writing the "Hot as hell" lyric?  Whew!  Van Dyke has forthrightedly stated that he came up with the idea of putting a lyric in "Water", and that he himself wrote the lyric.  This info is not hard to find.

              Love and merci,   Dan Lega

Yay! Dan, I've been mentally paging you for some time now! There is a boatload of horse-merda like the posts you just answered. Good luck!

Dan Lega,
     Before you take the time to criticize somebody else's post, it might be a good idea to actually read that person's post - at least a little closer, which obviously you did not. No where in my post did I even mention the word sequence, much less that Jeff Foskett helped with the sequencing. I used the word WORK. You can read anything into that that you want, but don't put words in my mouth. It is possible, that after Darian (and Brian?) sequenced BWPS, and began working on the LIVE PRESENTATION, that Jeff Foskett ASSISTED in the live performance preparation, IN SOME WAY, even if it was just helping with the rehearsal of the material. Even though I haven't come up with the proof to satisfy you, is that too much of a stretch to think that Jeff did help out with the live presentation, which then became, note for note, the finished CD? He is one of the Brian Wilson Band leaders. You wouldn't argue that would you? And in Beautiful Dreamer, it appeared to me that David Leaf featured Jeff Foskett in a lot of the footage leading up to the concert.   

And SMILEY, you're an asshole who SHOULD page somebody else for help, because after reading your posts, you obviously have nothing constructive to say.   
     

[Bicyclerider]

Dan  wrote:  "Please show any other evidence that SMiLE 2004 might be watered down for a concert presentation only.  Were there parts that were left out because of the difficulty of playing?  If parts were left out, then why didn't they put them back into the CD version?  Sorry, Andrew, but this idea doesn't fly with me one bit.  As I said, it does look like they started it that way, but from all evidence I've seen is that the concept changed and they truly tried to finish SMiLE as best as they could.  Show me one part that was left out because you think it was too difficult to play or sing and maybe I'll change my mind."

Dan, it seems you haven't read the entire thread because you're arguing for things that no one has argued against as far as I can see.  Nobody said anything was left out because of playing difficulty, or singing difficulty.  What the thread is about is whether BWPS, the concert and subsequent CD which is very faithful to the concert version, is a finishing of Smile AS BRIAN AND VAN DYKE MIGHT HAVE FINISHED IT IN 1967.  And it's clear that it's not.  Peter Reum says that BWPS is a finished Smile following Brian's original intentions to create something in three movements.  Others question that assertion, since Van Dyke and others were never aware of this three movement idea in 66-67 (Van Dyke specifically told Andrew that SMile was to be 12 tracks, banded, with fades, no links), and because virtually everything Brian was recording included FADES - so the idea of movements with continuous musical sections and links between sections/songs is not borne out by what Brian was actually recording at the time. 

What was left out of BWPS that would have been in 67 SMile is the more relevant question that this thread has been about.  And that would be . . . the fades!  Fade to Vegetables, the OMP fade/false Barnyard, the Wonderful tag (if he was thinking about movements, why record a tag to something that has a definite cold ending?).  What's in BWPS that wouldn't be in 67 SMile?  Link sections, cross fades, the Asher lyrics to Good Vibrations.  The different, simplified (and less eerie) arrangement of Mrs. O' Leary's Cow.  Etc, you can come up with more examples.  So while BWPS is a "finishing" of Smile in terms of completing a recording and a live concert arrangement, it's NOT finishing SMile along the lines of what Brian and Van Dyke were doing in 67, at least IMO and some others in this thread.  Even Peter admits that the movement sequences and song choices in BWPS are not what would have been done in 66-67, they are modern creations (of whom?  Darian, Van Dyke, Brian, how much each contributed is also in contention, but you addressed that in your post).  And they are essentially sequences and song choices initially dictated by and framed around the live performance - obviously , fades wouldn't work in live performance.  Once they had completed the live performance arrangement, which was a tremendous effort for Brian, he (and Van Dyke and Darian) weren't about to try and reconceive the whole project, change the order and put in fades and try to "finish" the album as it would have been in 67.  The live performance became the recording.

[PMcC]

 The live performance became the recording.


........that's a great point. The live performance became the recording, not the other way around, as we are usually used to. It was the path of least resistance, and when you're dealing with BW, that's a good thing. It could mean the difference between a finished product, or more unreleased sessions in the cabinet...

[buddhahat]

What was left out of BWPS that would have been in 67 SMile is the more relevant question that this thread has been about.  And that would be . . . the fades!  Fade to Vegetables, the OMP fade/false Barnyard, the Wonderful tag (if he was thinking about movements, why record a tag to something that has a definite cold ending?). 

What is the Wonderful Tag? All I hear is a subtle ascending bass part at the end that, if anything, actually implies the movement into another song, or do you mean something else?

[Old Rake]

The only "Wonderful" tag that I'm aware of is the "mama mama mama" thing on Sea of Tunes. And I'm fairly  sure that isn't associated with the original version of Wonderful. Different key. I'm certain we don't know how "Wonderful" was going to end, and that makes it semi-unique among the Smile songs.

[Cam Mott]

The only "Wonderful" tag that I'm aware of is the "mama mama mama" thing on Sea of Tunes. And I'm fairly  sure that isn't associated with the original version of Wonderful. Different key. I'm certain we don't know how "Wonderful" was going to end, and that makes it semi-unique among the Smile songs.

To me the Smile-era Wonderful has a fade, shorter than some some but a fade, it is not left open ended; the session tape shows it trails out like other fades [as I remember]  rather than end on a single mutual stop as do the sessions of the 2 or 3 movements within other Smile songs.

[Bicyclerider]

Yeah, I'm thinking of that "mama mama mama" part.  My point being that if the original version of Wonderful had a cold ending (the ascending bass bit) that could have transitioned into  something else, then why record a tag/fade later?  Jon is probably right that the Wonderful tag was for the January Wonderful rerecord.   Also, since we don't have a final Brian mix of the original, how do we know he wouldn't have faded it out before the final bass notes?

[SMiLEY]

I believe that over 95% of Brian's contribution (I'll leave 5% for "That sounds great" and "Could I hear that part again") - whether it be for the live presentation or the recording of the CD - was simply an exercise in karaoke.

Brian did ALL of his work on SMiLE in 1966-67; he never re-visited it again for any length of time. 2004's BWPS was the work of Darian Sahanaja, Jeff Foskett, and some Van Dyke Parks.

The way Brian's promotional team made it appear that Brian "finished" SMiLE was the best "Brian Is Back" campaign yet. And, in my view, it rendered the project a fraud.

Dan Lega,
     Before you take the time to criticize somebody else's post, it might be a good idea to actually read that person's post - at least a little closer, which obviously you did not. No where in my post did I even mention the word sequence, much less that Jeff Foskett helped with the sequencing. I used the word WORK. You can read anything into that that you want, but don't put words in my mouth. It is possible, that after Darian (and Brian?) sequenced BWPS, and began working on the LIVE PRESENTATION, that Jeff Foskett ASSISTED in the live performance preparation, IN SOME WAY, even if it was just helping with the rehearsal of the material. Even though I haven't come up with the proof to satisfy you, is that too much of a stretch to think that Jeff did help out with the live presentation, which then became, note for note, the finished CD? He is one of the Brian Wilson Band leaders. You wouldn't argue that would you? And in Beautiful Dreamer, it appeared to me that David Leaf featured Jeff Foskett in a lot of the footage leading up to the concert.   

And SMILEY, you're an furo do burro who SHOULD page somebody else for help, because after reading your posts, you obviously have nothing constructive to say.   
     

I have plenty of constructive things to say, but if someone makes as many assertions and accusations and assumptions as you did in the first quote above, then I suppose there is nothing to say that's constructive, because they are all wrong. Like, pathetically wrong.   
Why, when in doubt, go for the most negative assumptions you can make? Brian put 5% into BWPS? That's a stretch and a half. And your Karoake accusation is not very nice. Why should I be nice when refuting it? It's a bit disingenuous to call everyone in Brian's camp a fraud and then get huffy when you're called on it.

Jeff Foskett, BTW, had medical problems during the SMiLE period.

But, hey, here's a constructive tip -- try knowing what you are talking about before making negative statements.

[PMcC]

Smiley, talk about making negative statements...Karaoke exercise INDEED!!  The project a fraud??  Try knowing what you're talking about before making negative statements? Listen to yourself. You're not focused on this one.