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Author Topic: Brian Wilson & Joe Thomas  (Read 14464 times)
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« Reply #25 on: October 04, 2017, 04:57:06 PM »

The Imagination DVD actually gives a decent idea of the approach Joe presumably had in mind. Footage from the 1998 St. Charles show features a very AC approach -- along with Bruce and Christopher Cross auditioning for the Jeff Foslett role ...

Always thought Cross would of been the perfect fit. https://youtu.be/SsmGtwtwh9E Listen to him join the guys in Kokomo he nails it. Very similar to Carl.
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« Reply #26 on: October 05, 2017, 12:34:03 PM »

"I know one of the guitar players who played on Run James Run as well as another song on NPP. As of just a few months ago, he worked with both Brian and Thomas together at separate studios! I asked how. Something that  nobody thought of yet was his answer. He said  when they were recording,Brian was at Oceanway and Joe was at another studio with the guitar player, presumably in Nashville. He said Brian and Joe were on Skype laughing it up and that Brian seemed very involved and comfortable communicating with  Thomas on the   TV monitor they set up in the studio."

So does this mean that Brian Wilson is the process currently of recording a new album?
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« Reply #27 on: October 06, 2017, 12:54:38 PM »

Looks like they worked on more than one song! Thats all the intel i have.
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« Reply #28 on: October 09, 2017, 03:43:53 AM »

But the thing with Joe Thomas is that he actually gets stuff made, done, and out there released for people to buy.

That to me has always been his best attribute, as both a producer and apparently a business guy (on C50 anyway). He has gotten multiple Brian albums out, and in 2012 got a studio album, a tour, a live CD, a DVD/Blu-ray documentary, and a live DVD/Blu-ray all out within the span of about 8 months.

Meanwhile, the Paley sessions have languished in the vaults for two decades, with Brian occasionally rifling through the material to pad out new projects.

I think a 1995 Beach Boys album based on those Paley sessions would have been great, and a BW or BB album based on that would have been preferable to "Imagination."

But Thomas being a sympathetic ear for Brian in the studio and being able to push projects to fruition is an important aspect.

I always got the sense that Thomas seems like a nice guy, and has a *personality* that Brian has liked in the studio more than not, and I appreciate (even if it went down the path of overly-slick AC sound) that Thomas has mentioned in interviews that he doesn't act like a fawning superfan around Brian.

There are a dozen other producers and scenarios I'd prefer for Brian over Joe Thomas, but he has jump-started some of the most important and enjoyable things of the last couple decades in the BB universe (C50 wouldn't have happened without Thomas, and one could argue his '98 work with Brian is what allowed Brian's touring to take off in 1999).

Ideally, Thomas would continue in more of a business capacity with Brian the way he did on C50, while allowing Brian to do some stripped-down stuff on his own.

I'd love for Brian to work with Jeff Lynne. But better yet, an album of just Brian and a piano. Done. Record a few dozen songs, stitch it all together, and it could be amazing.
O yes, just Brian and a piano. I think we'd get about a third very forgettable things and a third so-so but pleasant pieces. But the other third would be mind-blowing.
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« Reply #29 on: October 09, 2017, 08:07:53 AM »

O yes, just Brian and a piano. I think we'd get about a third very forgettable things and a third so-so but pleasant pieces. But the other third would be mind-blowing.

The idea would be to hopefully leave Brian fully to his own devices in terms of recording, but then still have others help with the editorial process in terms of what to include on a CD. It wouldn't have to be as loose and meandering as the "Hamburger/Cocaine Tapes", etc.
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« Reply #30 on: October 09, 2017, 08:23:11 AM »

What if an album produced like NPP was exactly what Brian wanted his music to sound like as of 2015? What if he wants that sound in, say, 2017? Just a thought.

Don't misunderstand, I'd love a fly-on-the-wall Brian solo at piano kind of thing, but in all seriousness, would that stripped down vibe sustain an entire album? Brian's music is about harmonies and stacking/layering of voices and tracks. That's his bag, he's been known for it and doing it for over 55 years, and he's better than anyone at doing it. Part of me says asking for something other than what the man does naturally would be like asking Brian May (or even EVH) to only play acoustic guitar on an upcoming tour or album and leave his trademark sounds and trademark homemade guitar in storage. Would it be good? Sure - but it's taking away the man's sonic calling cards. Maybe a great novelty, a mini-set, but not a full album of it.
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« Reply #31 on: October 09, 2017, 08:50:43 AM »

I don't think anybody is suggesting someone force Brian to do a project he doesn't want to do. But artists can (and I believe should) try to stretch a bit and listen to ideas that fans and other colleagues put out there.

Many times an artist (an music-maker, a filmmaker, a writer, etc.) has had others suggest things to them, and they might reply with a "that sounds like an interesting idea that I hadn't thought of; maybe I'll try it."

Many artists have done new music (and re-recordings, etc.) in solo, stripped-down fashion.

Ironically, if I were advising Brian to try that approach, it wouldn't even be primarily because that's the *sound* or *arrangement* I want. It would be more to get it as "pure Brian" as possible. By saying that, I'm not suggesting NPP isn't what Brian wanted to put out. Rather, even in a collaborative, friendly setting, we're hearing Brian's vision along with other musicians, singers, producers, etc.

As I've often said, it's the difference between "Message Man" and a lot of the other stuff on TLOS. I just think it would be fun to have an album of "Message Man" type stuff. I'm not even a huge fan of that song. But stuff *like* that. Pure Brian without Scott Bennett of Joe Thomas or anybody else. Not because they wrote poor material, or because I think they butted in when Brian didn't want them. But rather simply because it's cool to hear pure, 100% undiluted Brian.

I do *also* think from an arrangement/style point of view it would be interesting to hear Brian divest himself of the ornate production with the bass harmonicas and sleigh bells. Again, he can and should do whatever he wants. But many artists have jumped around and done more and less "produced" sounding material. I advocate for a "Brian and a piano" album, and/or a "Brian in the style of a Rick Rubin-produced Tom Petty album" more as simply another way to hear Brian, a new interesting way that isn't gimmicky. I'm not saying Brian *should* do this, but rather than I and some others would dig hearing it, and it wouldn't be *wrong* of Brian to field other ideas/methods, even at this late stage in his career. By making these suggestions, it isn't to betray Brian's sound or not trust his instincts.
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« Reply #32 on: October 10, 2017, 07:11:05 AM »

I advocate for a "Brian and a piano" album, and/or a "Brian in the style of a Rick Rubin-produced Tom Petty album" more as simply another way to hear Brian, a new interesting way that isn't gimmicky.

HeyJude, I'm sure you know that I think you're posting is probably the most nuanced of all those in The Beach Boys fan community, but here is one area where I have an issue with what you're saying. I actually think that the whole, "bring in Rick Rubin and strip things back" thing that Johnny Cash, Weezer, Neil Diamond, Tom Petty and Metallica have all done could be looked at in it's own way as seemingly "gimmicky" as starting a new album with a wordless, "Our Prayer"-like chorale which moves onto a kitchen sink production replete with sleigh bells, woodblocks and bass harmonicas, which then ends with a suite.
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« Reply #33 on: October 10, 2017, 07:18:43 AM »



The one reservation I'd have with a stripped back Brian and piano type album is the quality of Brian's vocals.  Granted, I don't really dislike Brian's current voice.  Considering that he destroyed his vocals 40 years ago, it's a near miracle he sounds as good as he does.  But, his voice might suffer a bit without the big arrangements and harmonies. 
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« Reply #34 on: October 10, 2017, 07:30:00 AM »

I advocate for a "Brian and a piano" album, and/or a "Brian in the style of a Rick Rubin-produced Tom Petty album" more as simply another way to hear Brian, a new interesting way that isn't gimmicky.

HeyJude, I'm sure you know that I think you're posting is probably the most nuanced of all those in The Beach Boys fan community, but here is one area where I have an issue with what you're saying. I actually think that the whole, "bring in Rick Rubin and strip things back" thing that Johnny Cash, Weezer, Neil Diamond, Tom Petty and Metallica have all done could be looked at in it's own way as seemingly "gimmicky" as starting a new album with a wordless, "Our Prayer"-like chorale which moves onto a kitchen sink production replete with sleigh bells, woodblocks and bass harmonicas, which then ends with a suite.

True (or, at least, it would have been true back maybe ten years ago), but I think it would be all down to what the motives are. If Brian decided he had no actual interest in a Johnny Cash/Rick Rubin sort of production ethos for an album project but did it to simply "jump on the bandwagon", then it would be (or would have been) seen as potentially gimmicky.

But I'm looking at it more from the point of view of wanting to hear a particular sound from a Brian record (that being something that is less adorned, simpler, natural/dry sounding, etc.) and then just looking for a relatively well-known thing to use as an example (Rubin, etc.).

There are potential templates in Brian's catalog to draw from for what I'd like to see. Something like "This Beautiful Day" gets closer to what I'd like to hear. I wouldn't even mind harmony stacks; it doesn't literally have to be solo Brian piano and voice (though that would be cool too). But if you take "This Beautiful Day", mix it even a little more dry, remove the Mark Isham noodling, something like *that* is what could be cool for an album.
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« Reply #35 on: October 10, 2017, 07:32:33 AM »



The one reservation I'd have with a stripped back Brian and piano type album is the quality of Brian's vocals.  Granted, I don't really dislike Brian's current voice.  Considering that he destroyed his vocals 40 years ago, it's a near miracle he sounds as good as he does.  But, his voice might suffer a bit without the big arrangements and harmonies. 

As long as it's honest, rough/gruff, etc. is fine with me. Again, "This Beautiful Day" is a good example of this. Full-voiced, no autotune, he even reaches for a real-sounding falsetto (one that doesn't sound like Jeff or Matt or anybody doubling him), and it sounds like a 75-year-old guy. I'm fine with that.

The only guy left among the principles that doesn't sound 75 is Al, who freakishly sounds the same as he did 30 years ago. But he's a fluke (a fluke that someone should be capitalizing on much more).
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« Reply #36 on: October 10, 2017, 08:51:19 AM »

Worth noting is going back (again) to the classic era of the Beach Boys and Brian's productions, when have Brian's productions been simpler, less adorned, dry sounding, etc? His instrument of choice second to vocals has always been the studio and studio technology and techniques, and especially in the glory years of 63-67 he made full use of studio technology to record and mix his tracks, including some experiments and techniques that few if any were using at that time in the same way. He was doing quite a few of the techniques I saw mentioned this weekend on that PBS Sgt. Pepper documentary (excellent, btw...even essential viewing) months before Pepper as any number of session reels can confirm. And in turn, The Beatles and Emerick/Sir George were doing revolutionary things as well.

If there was something new on the scene, or even a new way to shape sound using existing technology, Brian was doing it or at least trying it and often before it caught on industry-wide. Producers and musicians especially from 63-67 including the Beatles were trying to figure out how Brian was making and mixing these hit records and getting "that sound", and that sound which was selling all those records was far from dry and simple in terms of how the records were being made and mixed.

So I might suggest again that taking away the studio techniques that he's been using since the early 60's would be like sending Eddie Van Halen on tour with an acoustic guitar. Interesting, perhaps...but it's taking away the guy's sonic trademarks and calling cards.
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« Reply #37 on: October 10, 2017, 10:12:26 AM »



The one reservation I'd have with a stripped back Brian and piano type album is the quality of Brian's vocals.  Granted, I don't really dislike Brian's current voice.  Considering that he destroyed his vocals 40 years ago, it's a near miracle he sounds as good as he does.  But, his voice might suffer a bit without the big arrangements and harmonies.  

As long as it's honest, rough/gruff, etc. is fine with me. Again, "This Beautiful Day" is a good example of this. Full-voiced, no autotune, he even reaches for a real-sounding falsetto (one that doesn't sound like Jeff or Matt or anybody doubling him), and it sounds like a 75-year-old guy. I'm fine with that.

The only guy left among the principles that doesn't sound 75 is Al, who freakishly sounds the same as he did 30 years ago. But he's a fluke (a fluke that someone should be capitalizing on much more).

I'm with you on this...actually the song he did on the Buddy Holly tribute is a nice example
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« Reply #38 on: October 10, 2017, 12:08:08 PM »

To me, Brian's first and foremost talent and trademark is chords and melody, and his vocal performances and arrangements. I don't like "Today" or "Pet Sounds" first and foremost for their production sound. I like the *songs.*

So an album of Brian and a piano isn't like some far-out, gimmicky sort of prospect. It's basically a high-quality, better-sounding version of Brian's circa 1976 Love You/Adult Child demo reel. That demo tape isn't just historically interesting; it's transcendent and pure in a way even the actual "Love You" album isn't.

To have Brian do *one project* where it's just him and a piano, and maybe a bit of additional accompaniment and potentially still vocal stacks, isn't some exercise in taking away his tools. It's another way to cut to the core of what he does. He is, to me, firstly a music-maker above all else. "Message Man" isn't a wall of sound. "Let It Shine" is a Jeff Lynne record with Brian doing all the vocals. It isn't a big deal for Brian to not make everything sound like "In the Back of My Mind" or "Wouldn't It Be Nice." He's done it, and could easily do it again.

Far more gimmicky than a "Brian and His Piano - The Album" full of new songs (and hey, maybe even some re-makes too) are covers albums like the Disney album. I like the Disney album just fine, I'm not knocking it.

But a "Brian's wall of sound" album filled with Little Richard covers doesn't interest me nearly as much as a "Brian and his piano" album.

As I've said, I'm not suggesting someone not let Brian do what he wants to do. I'm suggesting that someone suggest something like this to him, and I'm suggesting that he perhaps embrace such an idea.
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« Reply #39 on: October 10, 2017, 08:08:31 PM »

To me, Brian's first and foremost talent and trademark is chords and melody, and his vocal performances and arrangements. I don't like "Today" or "Pet Sounds" first and foremost for their production sound. I like the *songs.*

So an album of Brian and a piano isn't like some far-out, gimmicky sort of prospect. It's basically a high-quality, better-sounding version of Brian's circa 1976 Love You/Adult Child demo reel. That demo tape isn't just historically interesting; it's transcendent and pure in a way even the actual "Love You" album isn't.

To have Brian do *one project* where it's just him and a piano, and maybe a bit of additional accompaniment and potentially still vocal stacks, isn't some exercise in taking away his tools. It's another way to cut to the core of what he does. He is, to me, firstly a music-maker above all else. "Message Man" isn't a wall of sound. "Let It Shine" is a Jeff Lynne record with Brian doing all the vocals. It isn't a big deal for Brian to not make everything sound like "In the Back of My Mind" or "Wouldn't It Be Nice." He's done it, and could easily do it again.

Far more gimmicky than a "Brian and His Piano - The Album" full of new songs (and hey, maybe even some re-makes too) are covers albums like the Disney album. I like the Disney album just fine, I'm not knocking it.

But a "Brian's wall of sound" album filled with Little Richard covers doesn't interest me nearly as much as a "Brian and his piano" album.

As I've said, I'm not suggesting someone not let Brian do what he wants to do. I'm suggesting that someone suggest something like this to him, and I'm suggesting that he perhaps embrace such an idea.

There is the difference in how people view Brian and his music. For me and for many musicians or those who record music in some capacity, it's the sound of his records alongside the songs. The songs need a vehicle to drive them to greater heights...imagine California Girls without that intro, imagine WIBN without that intro, GOK without a French Horn or the swirling vocal round near the end, or the sleighbells, imagine GV without using a Theremin and without the vocal surges and drop-outs...that's production elevating a great song into an all-time classic.

Then imagine those records not sounding exactly like they did and instead sounding like they were cut in a guy's basement with digital effects processor reverb and the like...not the same.

They're part and parcel of the same notion, what makes a record a classic. It's not always the song itself. And Brian had a unique touch as producer and in the studio in general of knowing what to add to a recording to make it sparkle and jump out of the speakers. It's his calling card.

That's why everyone in the 60's making records was asking "how does he do it?". And they didn't only mean write those amazing songs.
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« Reply #40 on: October 10, 2017, 08:16:56 PM »

If you were to do the Rick Rubin route on a Brian project, modeled after the obvious Johnny Cash and similar projects, it's putting Brian the artist into a medium where he has simply never been comfortable nor has been known for. I think the power and brilliance of the '67 Surf's Up Inside Pop video and the various vocal-piano takes have put a different mindset out there along with expectations different than reality. Ultimately one was done strictly for the camera, and the others were demos and not what Brian intended for the final product. Yet they're so damn good, it's naturally difficult not to say "we want more more more or that!". Then look at him on SNL in '76 doing GV...it's not his bag.

I think the guy thrives on other musicians being around him and working together to make music, and on pretty large scales both in size and sonically. From what I've heard he feeds off of the energy of a room, and that's also why having Jeff Lynne as producer might not work as well across a full album versus another single track. It's just a different mindset.

And keep in mind too...I think Imagination, BW '88, and a few other individual projects and songs suffered because of the production, and in some of the less successful cases, it felt like Brian was being shoehorned into a style or sound in the studio other than his own. I think NPP had a more solid balance, as did the Christmas album...it felt more like a Brian production. And neither was a basic surf band with gobs o' reverb kind of production.
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« Reply #41 on: October 11, 2017, 05:30:26 AM »

In regards to production on BW solo albums, I tend to prefer the Christmas Album, TLOS, and Gershwin. 
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« Reply #42 on: October 11, 2017, 07:03:20 AM »

"Worth noting is going back (again) to the classic era of the Beach Boys and Brian's productions, when have Brian's productions been simpler, less adorned, dry sounding, etc?"

Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, some of the Smile stuff (Wind Chimes verse remake, Child remake, some of the Vegetables April sessions, etc.).  Maybe not what you're referring to as the "classic" era though.
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« Reply #43 on: October 11, 2017, 08:07:46 AM »

I think Brian is very comfortable just singing and playing a piano.

So, while I'm not suggesting someone surreptitiously record him and put the recording out without his permission or something, one idea would be to capture Brian in such a realm, only with new songs, and release it.

Something like some of the tracks on Colin Hay's "Man at Work." But new songs.

Think of something like McCartney doing the "McCartney II" solo recordings in 1979, and the story he often told of kind of recording the songs for kicks but then playing the recordings to others and being told he should make it his next album.

I guess what it would be for Brian would be almost a sort of "accidental album." Obviously not literally (though he could certainly put an album or boxed set out of his actual demos from past years), but to simply capture pure Brian.

I think Rubin or Lynne coming in and helming an album with their own musicians coming in and all of that would be far less likely and far more complicated (more Rubin than Lynne, since Lynne would probably play and sing everything that Brian didn't on a theoretical album; Lynne even does his own drums now). I don't think that would be a bad idea either, and I don't think Brian actually, gasp!, deferring to someone in isolated instances in the musical realm just for the fun of it or to do something a little different would be a bad thing. He has done it before.
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« Reply #44 on: October 11, 2017, 08:34:08 AM »

Maybe a decade ago or more, I was saying Brian should do a jazz album. I remember whatever board that was on or whatever group (Yahoo Groups? SmileShop? can't remember) some of the reactions to that were less than enthusiastic. I guess in my mind, I thought it would be cool because Brian has had a pretty strong but not overt jazz influence going back to his teenage years when he was overdubbing Freshmen style vocal arrangements on his reel to reel. What if he were to do, like, an actual jazz album? I guess I had visions of him at the piano, maybe a jazz trio or quartet backing him, upright bass-brushes on drums, maybe even a Hammond B3 here or there.

Then in 2010 Brian does the Gershwin album. That was his version of a jazz album. Not at all what I would have anticipated, not at all what I pictured in my own "what if?" scenario, but it ended up being one of the best solo efforts he's ever released. He was literally "all in" and how cool to have the Gershwin estate offer unfinished material for Brian to work up? It's a great album. It could have been even better or sounded at least different had certain things happened, but that's another story...lol.

So I guess the point is, maybe the Gershwin project was an example of letting Brian Wilson put his own stamp on an album project...people like me (all 4 of us perhaps) who wondered what a Brian jazz album would sound like got something more unique than we would have imagined. It was far from a standard jazz album, and I'm guessing far from what an outside producer from the jazz world would have done with such a project, but it worked and it's pure Brian.

And note too that the Gershwin album in the arrangements and overall "feel" is that layered-stacked wall of tracks kind of production. Far from the small jazz combo I would have pictured, but when it all got added up, it was exactly what the project needed and there is no mistaking this is a BW album.

And I recall also having a conversation in the late 90's after Imagination on getting young artists from the alternative/indie scene to work with Brian, kind of like they tried and failed to do in the mid 90's post-Landy. You know, artists more into Smile and Smiley Smile and all the more experimental stuff than Be True To Your School. I was one of those musicians, same age group too, and at first I thought "yeah, cool!". Get Brian back into the experiments, found sounds, odd instruments, etc.

And it was pointed out how potentially uncomfortable or even odd it would be to have Brian go into a studio with someone 25-30 years his junior and have that indie musician think it necessary to fill the studio with police sirens, typewriters, hammers and saws, wine glasses filled with water, Fisher Price toy instruments, detuned guitars, etc.

It kind of clicked that there is a difference between the idealized or imagined version of how Brian made music decades ago versus the reality of the present day. And while it would be fun as an exercise to see what happened, would a successful man who has decades of professional and life experience be at all interested in cutting full records with a producer surrounded by toys and typewriters even though some fans would think that would be spectacular and a return to the cool music days?

Maybe it would, but I doubt it would lead to anything beyond a curio...just like when they tried to bring back the Wrecking Crew for that session at Western in the early 80's trying to recapture the magic and it just fell flat.
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« Reply #45 on: October 11, 2017, 09:31:55 AM »

Didn't BW say Sean O'Hagan "was doing stuff I did 30 years ago"?
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« Reply #46 on: October 11, 2017, 09:42:06 AM »

Didn't BW say Sean O'Hagan "was doing stuff I did 30 years ago"?

I wouldn't be surprised! Mostly because it's true and it's a similar comment to many I have heard from other pioneers in the rock world. I also think of a story I heard about drummer Earl Palmer...one of the absolute, 100% fathers of rock and roll who invented it more or less...when a young producer tried to instruct Earl on what to play, Earl said "Son, I invented this sh*t."

Heard the same about Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi when Rick Rubin's studio team tried to go 100% vintage and authentic for the "reunion" Sabbath project Rubin produced, and Iommi had to remind them he invented the tones and sounds they were trying to get him to use and school them on why the vintage gear they had lined up for him was replaced by gear Tony could actually rely on...Great stuff.

So the idealism and fantasy turn back the clock ethic isn't always reality especially with legacy artists who really did invent the fetish-y things the younger musicians go nuts for and want to recapture.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2017, 10:04:39 AM by guitarfool2002 » Logged

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« Reply #47 on: October 11, 2017, 10:02:18 AM »

Maybe it would, but I doubt it would lead to anything beyond a curio...just like when they tried to bring back the Wrecking Crew for that session at Western in the early 80's trying to recapture the magic and it just fell flat.

However, also recall when Brian did the mini reunion type deal with Hal Blaine and Carol Kaye for "Everything I Need"....

....and remember how beautiful that turned out. Well at least the "Brian" version - before Joe Thomas and/or Brian's daughters messed with it and maybe it adult contemporary cheese.
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« Reply #48 on: October 11, 2017, 10:12:45 AM »

Maybe it would, but I doubt it would lead to anything beyond a curio...just like when they tried to bring back the Wrecking Crew for that session at Western in the early 80's trying to recapture the magic and it just fell flat.

However, also recall when Brian did the mini reunion type deal with Hal Blaine and Carol Kaye for "Everything I Need"....

....and remember how beautiful that turned out. Well at least the "Brian" version - before Joe Thomas and/or Brian's daughters messed with it and maybe it adult contemporary cheese.

Check out Hal Blaine's comments about those sessions - To paraphrase, Hal remembered going in and cutting some amazing tracks, and being upset when there was a producer who thought putting tons of percussion and extra sounds after the fact would be more "authentic", and it ruined the track in Hal's opinion.

So it's a double-edged sword, right? Bring in a Jeff Lynne or Sean O'Hagan or name another producer and they may think adding all that stuff is a necessity. Bring in a Rick Rubin and he may bring in an exact replica of Brian's white Baldwin organ and set up a single C12 or U47 mic through a vintage LA-2A and roll tape on Brian playing solo. All of it may be fine, but...maybe it's probably just best to let Brian decide what sounds go on the tracks, whether it be sparse or layered, and not try to put him in Animal Collective's or Wayne Coyne's fantasy of what the Smile sessions were like or conversely what a producer in the 90's assumed would be "Brian's Sound" by adding exorbitant amounts of percussion and bells-whistles which clouded the actual track which was layered enough.
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"All of us have the privilege of making music that helps and heals - to make music that makes people happier, stronger, and kinder. Don't forget: Music is God's voice." - Brian Wilson
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« Reply #49 on: October 11, 2017, 10:14:38 AM »

Edit...I *think* it was those sessions Hal was describing, it's been awhile, I may be thinking of another deal. Well, whatever Brian's daughters and he did together that ended up full of extraneous percussion and noises because a producer wanted it to sound more like the mid 60's...that's what Hal was describing!  LOL
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"All of us have the privilege of making music that helps and heals - to make music that makes people happier, stronger, and kinder. Don't forget: Music is God's voice." - Brian Wilson
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