Nice BW interview from the IMAGINATION era

[NightHider]

http://www.dallasobserver.com/1998-07-16/music/brian-wilson-reconstructed

"If I ever have a radio, I play the oldies-but-goodies stations," he says. "I don't really play it too much though. I don't really like to wallow in the mire. I never play the Beach Boys stuff in my house. Never, never play our stuff. Because I think that if you do that, it's like sitting around masturbating all over your own stuff"--here, (Brian) makes a jerking-off motion with his fist--"We're great, we're great. Skip that, you know?"

[SloopJohnB]

Classic Brian! Thanks for providing my daily laugh 

[Andrew G. Doe]

Very interesting, not least for the confirmation that "How Could We Still Be Dancing ?" was written (if not recorded) by July 1998.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Thanks for the link, NightHider; I enjoyed the article very much!

Anybody know the "personal reasons" why Brian stopped working with Joe Thomas?

[brianc]

I'd like to think it was because... HE SUCKED... as a producer.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I'd like to think it was because... HE SUCKED... as a producer.

But, when Brian said that, Imagination was just released, and Brian referred to it as "Pet Sounds 1998". I know, I know, take THAT with a grain of salt....

[brianc]

In the early '70s, Brian said in a radio interview that "Spring" was as good as "Pet Sounds." But, you know, screw it, "Sweet Mountain" was as good as anything from "Pet Sounds," and show me on thing on "Imagination" that can boast that claim.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Imagination does contain, with the possible exception of "Love And Mercy", Brian's best solo song/recording, in "Lay Down Burden" - in my opinion of course. Now, I don't know how much of it he wrote, but he sings it great....

[brianc]

Imagination does contain, with the possible exception of "Love And Mercy", Brian's best solo song/recording, in "Lay Down Burden" - in my opinion of course. Now, I don't know how much of it he wrote, but he sings it great....

Wow. Interesting. I wouldn't even put that in my top 20 of Brian's solo songs. Though, you're right, he does sing it great.

[TdHabib]

Imagination does contain, with the possible exception of "Love And Mercy", Brian's best solo song/recording, in "Lay Down Burden" - in my opinion of course. Now, I don't know how much of it he wrote, but he sings it great....

AFAIK, he wrote at least the chorus by himself--he told the story of when he heard that Carl had cancer, he wrote the chorus. I'd say the verse was the Thomas/Wilson collaboration.

I love the song but hate the Imagination recording. Just hate it. The live version is so much better it's not even funny, the harmonies are magnificent. I will say the vocals on Imagination are fine, it's everything else I hate. My favorite on the album is "Cry" with "Happy Days" in close second place (even though it's a "My Solution" re-write.)

[TdHabib]

Very interesting article, Brian planned his collaboration with Carnie and Wendy to be Pet Sounds Vol. 2, but that didn't pan out. That would've been very interesting, since he was writing with Tony Asher again...

As for Imagination, it has some great things and some not so great things. Production is not it's strongpoint. I often wonder who had better musical taste, Joe Thomas or Dr. Eugene E. Landy? Landy helped write the lyrics to "Melt Away" (great) and "Daddy's Little Girl" (not so good), Thomas helped on "Lay Down Burden" and "Sunshine".)

[Wirestone]

Cry.

Brilliant. Solely written by Brian. Shame about the "blues" guitar.

[brianc]

I heard a long time ago that there's a demo for "Cry" that has Joe Thomas nowhere near it.

[Mr. Wilson]

Thanks so much for posting the interview...Never read that before...!! Thanks again..

[Pretty Funky]

Recently, Love made idle threats from the stage that the band wouldn't do any of their car songs--"409," "I Get Around," and so forth--because they didn't want to perform tunes that celebrated "gas guzzlers"; the group had inked a deal to promote the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program


True? I remember he used to make a comment in concert in jest in the early 90s.

[Aegir]

Cry.

Brilliant. Solely written by Brian. Shame about the "blues" guitar.

I like the guitar a lot.

[Day Tripper]

 My favorite quote, which I think shows the manic part of his manic-depression:

"Tomorrow, which is Saturday...tomorrow, I'm going to go to a music shop, where they sell musical instruments, and I'm going to buy a real expensive, great instrument that has all kinds of beautiful stops on it. And it's going to inspire chords, which is going to inspire melodies, which is going to inspire words, which is going to inspire production!"

 I think Brian being bi-polar, even though it has affected his personal life, was an essential part of his creativity. I still wonder if he could be weened off medication and learn how to utilize his condition. I think he has been quoted as saying that he is able to create beautiful melodies during moments of deep sadness. The history of the Arts has its share of tortured artists. Brian still has mood swings, but the pendulum doesn't swing quite as far in either direction anymore because of the meds.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Imagination does contain, with the possible exception of "Love And Mercy", Brian's best solo song/recording, in "Lay Down Burden" - in my opinion of course. Now, I don't know how much of it he wrote, but he sings it great....

AFAIK, he wrote at least the chorus by himself--he told the story of when he heard that Carl had cancer, he wrote the chorus. I'd say the verse was the Thomas/Wilson collaboration.

He may have re-written it when he learned about Carl, but the song (with the same title) was known to exist a fair time before it was learned that Carl had cancer - and the verse lyric is patently about a woman.

[Wirestone]

Well, the Joe Thomas credit on HCWSBD dates it at least to that general time -- Joe didn't last far past 98, right?

[TdHabib]

Imagination does contain, with the possible exception of "Love And Mercy", Brian's best solo song/recording, in "Lay Down Burden" - in my opinion of course. Now, I don't know how much of it he wrote, but he sings it great....

AFAIK, he wrote at least the chorus by himself--he told the story of when he heard that Carl had cancer, he wrote the chorus. I'd say the verse was the Thomas/Wilson collaboration.

He may have re-written it when he learned about Carl, but the song (with the same title) was known to exist a fair time before it was learned that Carl had cancer - and the verse lyric is patently about a woman.

I stand corrected, this is #749 on my list of corrections, Mr. Doe 

[HeyJude]

Very interesting, not least for the confirmation that "How Could We Still Be Dancing ?" was written (if not recorded) by July 1998.

I always thought that "How Could We Still Be Dancing?" had at least a bit of a genesis with the mid 90's track "Dancing the Night Away" that the Beach Boys briefly worked on. I recall that on the instrumental track version that is floating around out there, there are a few chord changes at the beginning that sound similar to what Brian ended up doing vocally on the beginning of the track in 2004.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Well, the Joe Thomas credit on HCWSBD dates it at least to that general time -- Joe didn't last far past 98, right?

Joe did the first two US mini-tours (March & June 1999) but didn't travel to Japan in July. The stated reason was he didn't like flying.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Very interesting, not least for the confirmation that "How Could We Still Be Dancing ?" was written (if not recorded) by July 1998.

I always thought that "How Could We Still Be Dancing?" had at least a bit of a genesis with the mid 90's track "Dancing the Night Away" that the Beach Boys briefly worked on. I recall that on the instrumental track version that is floating around out there, there are a few chord changes at the beginning that sound similar to what Brian ended up doing vocally on the beginning of the track in 2004.

Um... the intro vocal is nothing more than the vocals from another section grafted onto the front of the track (specifically from 2.04 into the song).

[HeyJude]

Very interesting, not least for the confirmation that "How Could We Still Be Dancing ?" was written (if not recorded) by July 1998.

I always thought that "How Could We Still Be Dancing?" had at least a bit of a genesis with the mid 90's track "Dancing the Night Away" that the Beach Boys briefly worked on. I recall that on the instrumental track version that is floating around out there, there are a few chord changes at the beginning that sound similar to what Brian ended up doing vocally on the beginning of the track in 2004.

Um... the intro vocal is nothing more than the vocals from another section grafted onto the front of the track (specifically from 2.04 into the song).

I understand that. The location of the vocal part in the recording isn't important. It's the musical similarity that I hear. I was just using the beginning of the 2004 recording to demonstrate one of the places where the similarity can be heard. The chord progression that is played on the piano at or near the beginning of the backing track of "Dancing the Night Away" (which I don't think is heard on the version that has a bit of vocals from the BB's, but I'm not sure) sounds similar to the part of the song that Brian sings that repeats itself during the song.

On top of that, the songs have a similar tempo and some similar chords and a similar general style in what I would guess could be called the verse sections. I don't think it's a case of the two tracks being the same song with different lyrics or anything. But, setting aside that both tracks having "dancing" in their lyrics, there are some notable musical similarities that, in a few cases, go beyond the songs just being similar in style. That both tracks also having "dancing" in their titles certainly doesn't dissuade me from pondering the possibility that the later song had a few roots in the older song.

[shelter]

and the verse lyric is patently about a woman.

Yeah, it seems very likely that it was originally written about a woman. But I think it still makes sense if you imagine it actually being about Carl. I like to think that Brian's singing about how he used to try to avoid having to record or perform with Carl and the Beach Boys and how he now wishes he would've done things differently. Even the line "Just remember the way I held you" could be about Carl: after all, they were brothers and Carl was five years younger, so you can think of this as an early childhood memory.