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c-man
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« Reply #35 on: November 07, 2010, 06:58:44 PM » |
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Continuing my dip into the archives re: the Brothers, Cousins, and Friends era:
From June/September 1981 ASM: "The release of a new Beach Boys album probably will not come about until early next year. They have not been working in the studio", and a few paragraphs later, "Word of anything new from Brian or the band is rare. Supposedly Brian has been writing, e.g. 'Sweetie" and "City Blues'. There was a constant rumor of them trying to get into a studio to cut 'Sweetie' all during August". "Sweetie" was in fact even mentioned in the brief interview the Boys did prior to their televised Long Beach concert on July 5th. Mike said he wanted Brian to do the song (which he described as "really hot") that day, but they didn't get around to rehearsing it, with everything else they had to do. This issue of ASM goes on to say "Incidentally, the recent Brian Wilson composition 'Stevie' was evidently recorded with Brian on the lead vocal, and produced by Dennis Wilson". According to an AFM contract, horns were added to "Stevie" at a January 14th "Beach Boys" session at Sounds Good Recording.
There is also an AFM contract for a Brian session at Gold Star in April, the song listed as "Untitled"; Diane Rovell served as contractor, and a few of the old Wrecking Crew players were present. Interestingly, the artist on this one is listed as "Brian Wilson", not "Beach Boys", and the employer name is "Brother Records (Beach Bum)". Beach Bum was Brian's publishing company.
That summer, Bruce granted a phone interview to an AM radio station in North Platte, Nebraska. In discussing Brian's current state, Bruce mentioned that with Carl out of the band temporarily, Brian had picked up some of his leads and had also taken to telling funny jokes onstage at appropriate times. When asked about Brian doing studio work, Bruce artfully dodged the subject by replying "Well, we haven't recorded in a year", before quickly moving on to talk about the plans underway for a two-record anthology of the latter-day Beach Boys music (specifically mentioning "Disney Girls", "'Til I Die", and "Sail On Sailor"), that materialized later in the year as "Ten Years Of Harmony".
Brad Elliott interviewed Bruce for the October 1981 issue of Goldmine. On the subject of new Beach Boys music:
Brad: "I understand Brian's been in the studio, in and out recently, doing things like...I understand he cut 'Be My Baby'."
Bruce: "Oh yeah, that cut 'I'm A Man', 'Be My Baby'."
Brad: "Is 'I'm A Man' the oldie?"
Bruce: "No, this is a new song. God, it's great, it is great. He cut it at Mike's. And he cut a song called 'Stevie'...Dennis produced it and it's really great. Brian wrote it and sang it. And Dennis produced it. And it's really great, I think."
Brad: "What is the status of a new album, a studio album, this year?"
Bruce: "Hah. Are you kidding?"
Brad: "No."
Bruce: "No. Singles. I'm trying to get everyone to go in and record 'Rock And Roll Lullabye', the B.J. Thomas record. I think it would be a great hit for us, just the way 'Barbara Ann' was. I think it's good to do an old outside song."
Brad: "So there are no plans for an album this year?"
Bruce: "Well, we'll have to. And it'll come because we'll do groups of singles."
Brad: "When will it come?"
Bruce: "We wouldn't have an album out until the middle of the summer and that's probably too soon. We're gonna start with some singles around May. You know, the production gets passed around. Maybe I won't be the producer. Maybe it will be Guercio, 'cause it's his label. You've seen the production pass around. Ultimately, it should always be Brian, but sometimes he doesn't want to take the ball."
Brad: "Is there a chance 'I'm A Man' will be a single?
Bruce: "Well, if I'm around, I'll get that onto the album...and 'Doo Ron Ron'".
Early in December, a trio of fans chatted with a cheerful, upbeat Brian in his hotel room in San Marcos, during the band's two-night run at the Circle Star Theatre. When asked if they would be coming out with a new studio album soon, Brian replied "In awhile, yeah...in a month or two", then answered a question regarding "Sweetie" by saying "We have 'Sweetie' recorded, it's all recorded", then proceeding to sing a line from the unrelased song. When asked who sings the lead, he replied "Me and Mike and Al, we all rotate". On the question of Carl returning to the band, Brian stated "Yeah, he'll probably come to South Africa with us...Yeah, definitely, I think he'll come back...it's his only source of income" (FYI, Carl did not return for the South African shows). When asked to comment on the then-current single release of "Come Go With Me" (pulled by CBS from "Ten Years Of Harmony"), which was currently climbing the charts, Brian said that the record company "had instincts that it would make it, and it did, and they're real proud of themselves...it looks like a big hit for us". On the subject of that summer's hit "Beach Boys Medley", Brian stated "Oh, I was real proud of that...I made some money, and that's what's important...it builds your career, y'know, career-building...when you get a hit record, it's just one more feather in your cap...".
The subject of Brian writing new material once again came up, at which point Brian mentioned both "Sweetie" and "Stevie", confirming that the latter is about Stevie Nicks, and proceeding to sing the first few lines of the song. Shortly thereafter, he honored the fans' request to sing a bit of "Still I Dream Of It" (but denied that Stevie Wonder was planning on recording it), after which one of the fans said "We wanna see The Beach Boys progress", to which Brian responded earnestly, "I do too, I'd like to see the same thing (chuckling)". But when asked about a solo album, Brian stated "I don't wanna do a solo album...I don't believe in doing a solo album...when you're a group member, and you're part of a famous group, I believe in following the group thing...keep it all in the group. Yeah, I don't believe in spreading it thin, and making a solo album".
In regards to Carl going out on his own, Brian opined "I think that was a foolish move, very risky too, 'cause you can't always get a hit album when you're a solo artist coming out of a group". When asked if he liked Carl's album, Brian said "I liked two songs on it, one or two, 'Heaven' and one other one, I can't remember the other one...I like 'Heaven' very much". Brian commented on seeing Carl live at the Roxy the previous April by saying "It was a good show...he's a good artist, a good entertainer, good performer, yeah". One of the fans asked if Brian thought Carl really would be back for the South Africa concerts, and Brian said "Oh yeah, yeah he should". One of the other fans goes on to say "He really adds a lot to the sound, on stage, on album especially, but on stage...he's got such a great voice, that just to fill that in, you really need that...I wish that he would come back", to which Brian just said "Yeah, yeah".
Brian was then asked when the group was heading back to the studio, and kind of chuckled before replying "Uh we're going back in the studio, probably in just a couple...well...I'd like to go in this coming week, when we go back tomorrow (we go back tomorrow, to L.A.), and I'd like to go in Wednesday or Thursday, for about two or three days, and just knock out a couple songs, and get the album on the way. We have quite a few songs, six or seven songs, that are half-way done, that are on the way done, so we could finish up an album in about three weeks if we got down to it". When asked for more titles, Brian struggled to recall any besides "Sweetie" and "Stevie", but when asked if "Loop de Loop" was one that would be coming out soon, he said "No...we decided not to get into that...it's...it's not good enough, y'know? We want something that's good out there...'Come Go With Me' sounds real good", then "Let me think...songs on the new album...oh, boy, where's my memory...well, Mike had 'Be My Baby' that was gonna be on there, but he put it on his album...and 'Calendar Girl' was gonna go on there and he put it on his album...there's one called 'Night Blooming Jasmine'...I wrote it". When asked about "City Blues", Brian said "'City Blues' is a song that Dennis and I and a friend of his named Garby wrote together, which is pretty good...".
The conversation turned to Dennis, who was sick and didn't play the previous night's show...Brian dialed his room to ask if he was going to play that night, and whether he was up to signing autographs for the fans. While waiting for Dennis to answer, Brian named his two favorite Beach Boys albums as "Holland" and "Carl And The Passions - So Tough". When asked if he liked the "MIU Album" at all, he replied "No, I was in a bad frame of mind during that time, I wasn't in a good space...no, I didn't like the whole bag at all". After speaking with Dennis and advising him that a warm shower might help him feel better, Brian turned back to the fans with the bad news: "He's in bed, he don't feel well, he might not make the show tonight, he didn't make it last night either. Yeah, he doesn't feel well, he's got the flu or somethin'". The three fans went on to praise the band's new music, to which Brian said "I hope you like 'Sweetie', because 'Sweetie''s real, uh...real cute...y'know, real cute song". One fan said that they had talked to Mike earlier, who said he couldn't get Brian to sing it for the live show...Brian said "Yeah...I do the first verse, and I do all the bridges, and I do another verse...I do two verses and two bridges". When asked if that entailed high singing or low singing, he replied "It's in the key of B, so...that's sort of a middle-range key, that's not a real high key for singing it...that's a pretty good mid-range key to sing in...it's a very moderate key...very nice key to sing in...the song goes along, right along, goes right along, y'know, and just keeps on pumpin', and just has a nice little mid-range beat, y'know, a medium beat...". Wrapping up the visit, Brian stated that his two favorite songs he'd written were "Good Vibrations" ("because I like the way Mike sings the chorus, I like the way he sings, y'know") and "'Til I Die".
Brad Elliott's piece on the compiling of "Ten Years Of Harmony", published in the Winter 1982 issue of ASM, mentions "There was also talk of the group making a quick trip into the studio to cut 'Back In The U.S.S.R.'" as a possible bonus track for the compliation.
From Brad's book "Surf's Up: The Beach Boys On Record 1961-1981", which came out at the end of the year: "July 1980 Studio Recordings: Brian and Mike spent a week at Mike's Santa Barbara home, where the former Lovesongs mobile recording unit had been permanently attached and dubbed WAVES (Western Audio-Visual Entertainment Services). While there, the pair recorded tracks for seven songs - "Be My Baby", "River Deep Mountain High", "Greenback Dollar" (the Kingston Trio classic), "Why Don't They Let Us Fall In Love?" (a rare Phil Spector-Ellie Greenwich-Jeff Barry composition) and three new songs, Mike's "Bucks" and "Children Of The Night" and Brian's "I'm A Man". Brian played all keyboards, Ed Carter played bass and guitar and Bo Fox and the late Kim Calkins split the drumming chores. Brian produced, with Jeff Peters engineering. Vocals were recorded for three of the songs - "Be My Baby", "River Deep Mountain High" and "I'm A Man". After returning to Los Angeles, Brian recorded instrumental tracks to several songs, including "My Solution" and "Shortenin' Bread" (again)". Brad's book then mentions the "Stevie" recording session, and states "Also during the last half of the year, Alan recorded "Don't Fight The Sea".
Finally, the syndicated radio provider REX offered its subscriber stations two brief interviews with Mike: the first, to air December 21st, titled "Beach Boys' Brian Wilson Not Cutting It?", and the second, to air the following day, titled "Mike (Beach Boys) Love Goes Solo". The first segment went like this:
Jeff Craig: "Beach Boys vocalist Mike Love is on sabbatical right now, so Rex asked about the future of the group - will The Beach Boys be back on the charts?"
Mike: "I think we will have some hits with The Beach Boys, because Brian's written some really fine tunes lately, um...he sometimes needs a little help in getting them across, because he doesn't have the verve or the stick-to-itiveness or the forcefulness that he once had, but he still has the creativity in terms of songwriting and arranging. But as far as producing, he just doesn't care as much as he used to, about getting things right; he thinks that something that sounds like he did in the 1960s is good enough; he hasn't grown any, in the production level".
And, from the second installment, Mike somewhat humourously explaining why he did a solo album in the first place:
Mike: "Well, REX, let's face it, y'know, some of the other Beach Boys are getting older, and uh, just can't get it up for an album project, in fact it's been two years since we did an album project, and um - I have a little bit more energy than that. We have done, with The Beach Boys, sporadic recordings, whimpy and feeble attempts, I might add, to come up with maybe a single or two. With that in mind, REX, it was a very simple conclusion I drew that I better get off my buns and do an album".
More to come...
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