AGD ruins my day once again...

[Mr. Cohen]

So, I read AGD telling someone else on another message board that David Sandler pretty much wrote all of "Sweet Mountain", using the previously released "Standin' Tall" by Sandler's band Northern Light as proof. I listened to the track at http://www.glacierdisc.com/tracks/index.html, and then I cried like a newborn child. AGD was right, and the ebullient fanboy inside me shriveled up like a leaf in late autumn. Never again will I be naive enough to believe in magic, there's no such thing, I'm sure AGD has documented proof of its nonexistence somewhere, proof he probably found deep within an early 80s BB setlist.

I suppose a song is just a song and it doesn't matter if Brian Wilson wrote it or not. In fact, it seems like Northern Light cut some good tracks. No, no, no. I want my dream back, my (now imagined, apparently) early 70s window into Brian's troubled soul. No comprehensive list of SMiLE sessions will bring this back, AGD. When will your mad inquisitions stop?

[Sheriff John Stone]

Brian Wilson was and is a powerful, powerful force. For David Sandler not to speak out more about HIS role in Spring....

People will do - or not do - anything, just to work with Brian Wilson or just be associated with him.

[Wirestone]

Never quite got the love for this song. But yeah, it sure sounds like it's a Sandler work. At a certain point, we have to give Brian Wilson his private humanity back. Every bit of him isn't revealed in a song somewhere. And sometimes he just churns a song out, and sometimes he does very little on a track he's credited for. And sometimes we really get a glimpse. Or maybe not. And so the world turns.

[Jason]

Goes to show that Desper's idea that the Spring LP was 5% Brian was correct. The facts are in front of everyone, we're just too pigheaded to accept them.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Goes to show that Desper's idea that the Spring LP was 5% Brian was correct. The facts are in front of everyone, we're just too pigheaded to accept them.

Remember, though, SWD's rider to that statement: "Of course, 5% of Brian Wilson is better than 100% of most other people".

[mtaber]

If it helps, try to remember all those "#1 in his living room" songs Brian would play for company but that he never recorded, as (I think) Bruce alluded to.  They were probably as good as "Sweet Mountain" and probably had titles like "Shortnin' Bread" and "Proud Mary"...

[Dancing Bear]

I've always thought this was the fan inside Bruce Johnston speaking.

But I still love Sweet Mountain, whoever wrote most of it.

[SG7]

Who cares? I still think it's a great album regardless of 5% effort or what.

[TdHabib]

You know I haven't heard "Standin' Tall," but short of that I still think I hear some BW goodness in the chorus...it's very much in that nostalgic 50s 15 Big Ones vibe only with more polish. Is there any truth in this?

Short of that even, I can tell where Desper is coming from. Listen to "Forever": Brian didn't write the song, to the best of my knowledge it's The Beach Boys track with some other overdubs that Bran probably had nothing to do with, it's the Rovells singing it, Carl for most of the song on backups but Brian singing very beautifully on the tag. There's the 5% factor. By the way, I do love that tag.

[MBE]

Well a lot of the changes are the same and it's obvious that this was the source of where Sweet Mountain came from but the Spring version is a lot better. The atmosphere is denser and more dramatic, the pounded piano is pure Brian, the harmony lines were much improved. When I interviewed Stephen Desper he stated that Brian was not really involved with shaping the project but that he did work on each cut. He wasn't relible but what he did made a real difference. I still cite the album as one of the last things done in what I consider Brian's prime (pre Murry's death). I think the fact that when Brian wasn't involved the Honey's later work in the 80's sharply declined. Another point I want to make is a sliver of 1972 Brian is worth more to me that 80 percent of his work since 1983.

[rogerlancelot]

"Everybody" sounds very much like Brian. Particularly the piano/instrumental break (sounds like "Anna Lee the Healer"). Same with "Tennessee Waltz" and some others. Yet songs like "Superstar" and even "This Whole World" sound like someone else's production work. I guess we might not ever know for sure whose work was what.

[gxios]

Northern Light's Bio says the band began in 1975.  So when was "Standing Tall" recorded?  "Sweet Mountain" is from 1971 or 1972.

[Christian]

I don´t know exactly when it was recorded. Unfortunately, Northern Light´s "Little Dipper" CD doesn´t have any liner notes. It´s a collection of early recordings, demos and experimentations, recorded before their first commercial release in 1975. Btw, there´s also an instrumental version of "Standin´ Tall" called "A Page From My Book" (track 12 on the CD).

David Sandler once mailed the following to me:

I wrote and recorded "Standin' Tall" before "Sweet Mountain" then Brian and I re-formed it into "Sweet Mountain" kind of of like "Thinkin 'Bout You Baby" became "Darlin". 

[phirnis]

Very cool that David Sandler could write a song as great as this one. Must be quite an experience to have Brian Wilson rework your very own song material.

By the way, I remember reading that BW told Wolfman Jack in 1972 he thought American Spring was better than Pet Sounds. Now I don't think he even managed to believe that himself...

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

[Mr. Cohen]

BW told me that Still Cruisin' is better than Pet Sounds:  "I would have junked all of the songs on Pet Sounds to write one 'Kokomo'. It took the essence of "Sloop John B' and elevated it in a whole new way that was totally original and unique to Mike Love and the BBs. He does a great lead on that one, a real mysterious tone, a real mysterious vocal quality. And 'In My Car'? That's a real art song, I feel like it was a painting. It didn't start out that way, but when we worked on it in the studio we could tell that we really had a classic on our hands. Carl does a nice vocal on that cut. It shoulda been a single! And 'Island Girl'? The opening is so spiritual, it's just a capella, no words, and really it's almost like a black spiritual. Then it has a great reggae feel, real bouncy, real happy, and it's a beautiful idea: who doesn't want an island girl? 'Still Cruisin' is like a mantra, to keep living, you know, just cruising. I like to go for drives and listen to some oldies but goodies on the radio, it really clears my head. 'Wipe Out' had a cool retro vibe, it inspired me to write 'Smart Girls'. We never released that one but it's a real fun song, a rap song if you can believe it. Isn't 'Somewhere Near Japan' on that, too? Yeah? That's one of the purest rock songs we wrote, and Carl's vocal is so beautiful, and the guitars have those oriental sounds, it's so atmospheric. And then the album closes with those BB classics. How can you go wrong with songs like that, man? I don't listen to the BBs records much anymore, but if I do, it's usually this one."

[Wirestone]

Uncanny! It's like Brian wrote the intro to the CD booklet right here!

[The Heartical Don]

BW told me that Still Cruisin' is better than Pet Sounds:  "I would have junked all of the songs on Pet Sounds to write one 'Kokomo'. It took the essence of "Sloop John B' and elevated it in a whole new way that was totally original and unique to Mike Love and the BBs. He does a great lead on that one, a real mysterious tone, a real mysterious vocal quality. And 'In My Car'? That's a real art song, I feel like it was a painting. It didn't start out that way, but when we worked on it in the studio we could tell that we really had a classic on our hands. Carl does a nice vocal on that cut. It shoulda been a single! And 'Island Girl'? The opening is so spiritual, it's just a capella, no words, and really it's almost like a black spiritual. Then it has a great reggae feel, real bouncy, real happy, and it's a beautiful idea: who doesn't want an island girl? 'Still Cruisin' is like a mantra, to keep living, you know, just cruising. I like to go for drives and listen to some oldies but goodies on the radio, it really clears my head. 'Wipe Out' had a cool retro vibe, it inspired me to write 'Smart Girls'. We never released that one but it's a real fun song, a rap song if you can believe it. Isn't 'Somewhere Near Japan' on that, too? Yeah? That's one of the purest rock songs we wrote, and Carl's vocal is so beautiful, and the guitars have those oriental sounds, it's so atmospheric. And then the album closes with those BB classics. How can you go wrong with songs like that, man? I don't listen to the BBs records much anymore, but if I do, it's usually this one."

How many Big Macs did he get to come up with this?

[Smilin Ed H]

I don't really see the problem with this.  It's always been credited as a co-write, hasn't it?  Sandler is clearly cool with it.  They took the chorus from an existing song that BW liked and they developed it into a better number.  The kind of thing that Brian and Dennis did regularly.  This time it was someone else's song.  Someone else who is the co-writer.  Great song and great production. Would love to have heard the boys do it - say, on Holland.

[Aegir]

Uncanny! It's like Brian wrote the intro to the CD booklet right here!

Not enough apostrophes.