Wild Honey

[Matinee Idyll]

I wish Brian had let his drummers HIT the drums.

[I. Spaceman]

I wish Brian had let his drummers HIT the drums.

It gets really bizarre during the SMiLEY-Lei'd era, where the drums almost disappear completely!

[HighOnLife]

Drums and bass.

[I. Spaceman]

Drums and bass.

Well, Vegetables is ALL bass.

[HighOnLife]

Yeah, I love THAT bass in THAT song, but I can't figure out why it's ignored in virtually every other song on the record.

[I. Spaceman]

The oragn-pedal bass on Fall Breaks is something that I love too. And Whistle In is mostly bass too. But Little Pad, Goin' Bald, Wind Chimes and With Me Tonight certainly miss it out completely.

But, back to Honey! Great bass work on this album, especially Made To Love Her, Here Comes The Night, and Darlin'

[HighOnLife]

Who played the bass on Wild Honey?

Did Brian just drop it like a rock after 1965, with a few sparse cuts like Vegetables and Good Time, or did he play more than than, and I just don't know about it?

[I. Spaceman]

Who played the bass on Wild Honey?

I wish I knew! It's probably Ray Pohlman on at least Darlin', but I would bank on Carl and Al for a lot of it.

Brian played bass on the Love You Lp, and a few tracks like Susie Cincinnatti, but dropped it for the most part even in 1963 in the studio, when he began playing the piano on the basic tracks, leaving it to Al and Carl, then the Wreckers.

[Jeff Mason]

The Beatles used no session men, excluding strings, horns, Indian musicians and the odd guest spot (Eric on "Gently Weeps", Billy Preston on "Get Back").
With the ONE exception of drummer Alan White on the 2nd version of Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You.

Not true exactly -- though proficient themselves, they brought in Nicky Hopkins to play piano on Revolution.  And he WAS the "Session Man" -- just ask Ray Davies.

Oh, and Wild Honey is awesome!

[the captain]

That's fine that they were on Spector's and J&D's records, but I don't see why Brian had to use them as much.

Well, I would imagine scheduling would have been awfully different without session players, considering Brian worked on tracks while the BBs toured. Instead of a couple of albums a year, I think we could cut that in half if he had to use them on everything.

[I. Spaceman]

The Beatles used no session men, excluding strings, horns, Indian musicians and the odd guest spot (Eric on "Gently Weeps", Billy Preston on "Get Back").
With the ONE exception of drummer Alan White on the 2nd version of Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You.

Not true exactly -- though proficient themselves, they brought in Nicky Hopkins to play piano on Revolution.  And he WAS the "Session Man" -- just ask Ray Davies.

Oh, and Wild Honey is awesome!

 

[Cam Mott]

When I heard, what sounded to me like, the blue-eyed psychesoulic Wild Honey on the radio and then Windchimes on the b-side of the single, I thought, and still think, it was/is some of the most avant garde stuff I had/have heard, bar none.

[HighOnLife]

I think 'avant garde' is overused when discussing music.

 

[I. Spaceman]

What an avant garde post!

[HighOnLife]

Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker..."Everything is avant garde, from a certain point of view."

[Cam Mott]

Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker..."Everything is avant garde, from a certain point of view."

Estes Keefauver to Trini Lopez: "Nothing is avant garde from the future."

[I. Spaceman]

John Oates to Daryl Hall: "Your ass, MY future".

[Wizard_Glick]

Wild Honey.......my second favorite BB album, right after Sunflower.


Greta Garbo to her banker: "Ah vant to garde my monee"

[Emdeeh]

Who played the bass on Wild Honey?

That would be Bruce Johnston on bass.

As a lot of you already know, *Wild Honey* is my favorite album of all time. I love it for it's looseness, low-key production, the exuberant singing (especially Carl's), and for the songwriting, which I think is especially strong on WH.

[HighOnLife]

Bruce Johnston played the bass on 'I Was Made To Love Her'? Damn, he's good. 

[Jeff Mason]

That's a big controversial topic.  Ask Josh if he shows up around here.  The guy who was the touring bassist then (forget his name) probably did some tracks.  Doubt Bruce did much.

Theory:  Carole Kaye did bass on I Was Made To Love Her and then confused that with the Motown version.  It would explain her vociferous insistence for taking credit for that one.

[Emdeeh]

Bruce Johnston played the bass on 'I Was Made To Love Her'?

Bruce played bass on the song "Wild Honey." Not sure about the rest of the album.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

That's a big controversial topic.  Ask Josh if he shows up around here.  The guy who was the touring bassist then (forget his name) probably did some tracks.  Doubt Bruce did much.

Theory:  Carole Kaye did bass on I Was Made To Love Her and then confused that with the Motown version.  It would explain her vociferous insistence for taking credit for that one.

Yeah, yeah, Ron Brown was definitely "around" according to Bruce.  He may have played a lot of the bass.  Bruce says he just played bass on the one song, Wild Honey, as was already mentioned.  Ray Pohlman was "present" as well.  Al was a plenty competent bassist to knock out a lot of the songs, and Brian could have, but likely didn't play a whole lot of bass, because he was at the keyboard and they we're still limited in number of tracks.

I don't know about Carol on IWMTLH.  She's so vociferous about the Stevie Wonder element of it...  Plus she's made it very clear she stopped working for Brian with Smile. 

[Daniel S.]

4. One of the Beach Boys best albums. To me this is like Brian's "Rubber Soul."  I would have given it a 5, but I hate Mama Says used as song into itself, and its the last song on the album. A bad way to go out.

[Dancing Bear]

Bruce says he just played bass on the one song, Wild Honey, as was already mentioned.

He mentioned also that he played the "cheezy organ solo" in the Wild Hony track.