Subject: Re: BW music
From: Daniel Lindeberg
To:
pet-sounds@lists.primenet.comDate: Thursday, October 24, 1996 9:33 PM
> Lastly, re: GV: there is a version floating around that has been
> tabbed as 'the record Brian almost released." Dick Clark played it
> once, and I heard it once on a satellite oldies station, believe it
> or not. It's similar, but different. It has the electric bass in
> the middle, and (I think) the "om de om oh dee oh" middle bridge.
> Where can this cut be found?
It's on just about all of the SMiLE boots plus, the SS/WH 2fer and
the GV box. BTW, how would you describe the difference in ability to
(with the lyrics, since that for some strange reason is what you
don't like about H&V) communicate with record buying teenagers
between Strawberry Fields Forever (classic?) and Heroes And Villains
(trash?) ?
Daniel
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Subject: RE: BW music
From: Jack Rieley
To:
pet-sounds@lists.primenet.comDate: Oct 24 1996 - 8:10pm
Daniel,
Don't cast aspersions on the lyrical assessment. Remember the key
difference: the Beatles were a unified group with coordinated career
direction telling one clear story, while the Beach Boys were wracked
by disunity, lack of support for the musical heart, and a total
absence of career direction. Since perception was, as it remains, 90%
of reality, it made Strawberry Fields (and other tracks) a much
easier sell than was Heroes.
- Jack
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Subject: Why won't Jack Reiley address these questions?
From: Zev Bacon
To:
pet-sounds@lists.primenet.comDate: Friday, October 25, 1996 12:16 AM
Jack,
Reading your posts has been most informative and simply a pleasure.
It's really cool that you take the time to answer the many questions
about your involvement with the Beach Boys. It's interesting to hear
the many tales of the ups and down of the Beach Boys during the early
1970's from someone who was actually present during that time. I,
like many others who have read your posts, have been intrigued by
your subtle mentions of the Smile album. On several occasions in the
many posts that you have submitted, you refer to the Smile album and
state how these Smile tapes which have been made available to the
public by many different sources are not completely genuine. I have
got to ask you, since you obviously have had access to the genuine
Smile tapes through your involvement, how much of Smile was actually
finished and in your opinion will we, the public, ever get the chance
to hear more of the greatness which is embodied on them? There are
also a few tracks from the album which clearly lack lead vocal tracks
on them. For example, Child is the Father to the Man, Barnyard, and
Love to Say Da Da, just to mention a few, seem to be missing a lead
vocal track on them. It was consistent throughout this period that
Brian would record guide vocals for the Boys so that they could learn
how to sing the parts as Brian wanted them to be sung. Knowing that
the Boys themselves did not record their vocal parts for a
significant portion of the album, my question is, did Brian record
guide vocals for the Smile tracks, and if he did, did they still
exist at the time you were involved? Did you actually hear them?
Also, which portions of the tapes available to the public through
various bootlegs are not genuine, and which are? Was there ever any
effort to "finish" the tapes in the early 1970's? I understand that
there are many questions in my posting here. I thank you in advance
for taking the time to answer!!!
Zev
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Subject: RE: Why won't Jack Reiley address these questions?
From: Jack Rieley
To:
pet-sounds@lists.primenet.comDate: Oct 25 1996 - 7:22am
Zev,
Oh we doooo get rather dramatic around here, don't we?
Your message header "Why won't Jack Reiley address these questions?"
reads like the puss spewn across American television airwaves by
Geraldo Rivera and Rush Limbaugh. Obnoxious in its implication, your
tone really turns me off, dewd.
It would take me several days of recollection and another few days of
research to answer yours and other questions fairly, even if my
responses were to be very very bief.
I haven't found such time yet.
- Jack
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Subject: The grave digger
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (
pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Date: Oct 26 1996 - 7:48pm
With Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson cheering me on, I had just gone
into hock for much too much in order to acquire a classic 1954
Bentley R type, previously owned by the British charges d'affaires in
L.A. The wooden picnic tables, the foot pedal which greased the car
and its solid ride thrilled me, even if the right-hand drive was
difficult to cope with.
Brian came out to my place in Topanga Canyon and insisted upon acting
as my driver for an afternoon. He even brought and wore a chauffeur's
cap. We visited all the spots -- a Piggly Wiggly, some smorgasbord
place in the Valley, the dry cleaner and a wine shop where I picked
up an expensive Medoc. My driver was in a particularly happy mood --
we spent the day laughing a lot.
Late the following afternoon my phone rang. Marilyn was hysterical.
"Come quick! ... It's awful!! .... Please hurry!" There were no
explanations, not that I sought any: Brian was in big trouble.
The Bentley performed more than adequately, getting me from Topanga
to Bel Air in no-time-flat. When I pressed the button next to the
gates at Bellagio, Marilyn shrieked with worry. "At last! Please,
drive thru! Hurry!" The gates swung open, I drove the final bit and
rushed into an open front door.
Mar was in the kitchen, looking through the big window that
overlooked their enormous Belair pool and garden. Her tears would not
stop flowing. "He's there," she managed, pointing to a spot far back
in the yard.
I looked, could not believe what I saw, then thought carefully how to
deal with the situation as I walked slowly out to the spot where
Brian Wilson stood. He was gripping a big shovel and he was
concentrating mightily on digging a hole. It was more than 6 feet
long, a couple of feet wide and it was getting deep. Was Brian aware
that I had walked out to him and was indeed but a few feet away? I
believe he was but shall never know for certain. In any event, he
continued digging away.
Shuffling methods of dealing with the crisis in my mind, I said
nothing for a long moment, and he did not acknowlege my presence.
Finally I mustered a cheery "Hi Brian! How ya doin?"
He turned to me, smiled fleetingly as one does upon seeing a friend,
then -- with a good deal of drama -- he threw that shovel to the
ground. "I'm pissed off!" he declared. Silence. And then: "I've been
diggin this grave for hours, tryin to get it just right. But you know
what? Fuckin Mar refuses to cover me up with dirt when I get in!" His
tone was angry.
I stared at him, began to open my mouth, but words did not come to
me.
Our eyes now met, my dumb stare meeting his frustrated, angry glare.
After a few seconds Brian Wilson suddenly broke into peals of loud
guffawing laughter. He continued to laugh, eventually I joined in
with him. The joke was over. The prank was complete. The comedian's
bit had reached its punch line.
He came up to me, still reeling with his own loud laughter, put a
hand on my shoulder, and we walked back toward the house. Soon
Marilyn, who had apparently watched it all through her kitchen
window, came outside and joined us, she now laughing too with that
fog-horn laugh of hers that I loved to imitate.
We never spoke of the incident again. Never. Today, nearly 25 years
later, I still haven't got a clue whether Brian Wilson was on this
side or that side of the line on the afternoon he dug his own grave.
- Jack
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Subject: Question for Jack Rieley
From: Steve M.
To:
pet-sounds@lists.primenet.comDate: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 12:13 PM
Hello Jack,
I have really loved your posts to this list. The list was really
drying up. Talk had gotten so bad that people were discussing who
smoked a cigarette on an album cover. I have been a long long time
fan. From the begining..a true old fart you might say. My favorite
time to be a beach boy/brian wilson fan was the time of '69-'74.
Right in the middle of your tenure with the group. I really liked
"Sunflower" when it came out. But I was blown away by "Surf's Up". To
me the group owes its exsistence to that Lp and the turnaround it
created in the public's mind. The Rollong Stone 2 issue/cover story,
the "Surf's Up" lp review, the Sept C. Hall shows in Ny, and the live
shows. God I loved the shows back then. What entertainment! I want to
thank you for all of that. And thanks again for your posts. It brings
back a lot of great memories.
My question is this..... what was Brian like during the recording of
"Spring". Did he really produce or was his name just listed to try to
help "sell" the lp. What was the recording of the Lp like? Under what
environment was it recorded? By the way.... I like your vocal tag on
"Down Home" (down home is just a memory..
).
Thank you. People owe you a lot of thanks for your work and caring
about the Beach Boys and their music. More than most will ever know.
Steve Mayo
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Subject: RE: Question for Jack Rieley
From: Jack Rieley
To:
pet-sounds@lists.primenet.comDate: Oct 30 1996 - 1:54pm
Steve,
I used to have a wonderful dog whose name was Bingo The Magic Dog,
and he was well know for being loving, friendly, fun-filled and
capable of speaking/howling the word "hello." Incredible but really
true. Bingo was almost always in a great mood, unless I left him at
home alone, when he would show his distaste for my neglect by finding
and chewing on recording tapes. Good friends loved Bingo as I did.
Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson adored him, as did Audree
and Mar and Annie and others. The dog seemed to be happy, but a
couple of times -- when I drove out to the country with Bingo to give
him a real run -- I wondered about his self-esteem. He'd run free and
run some more and keep on running until he found some cow dung.
Inevitably he began rolling in it. Ecchhh.
Somehow that's the metaphor which always comes to mind when I think
of Brian's involvement with Spring.
Brian was definitely rolling in the Spring project, but he seemed not
to care much about it. They got the "B" and "C" songs, he dutifully
did his shtick and on rare occasion we actually had fun with it. Like
on Down Home.
Brian's relation to Diane, who he seemed seldom to notice for months
at a time, warmed during Spring. And when Murry died, by the way. But
he never exuded pride at all about the project. Never in my presence.
Sorry about all the still unanswered posts. I am really busy 16 hours
per day these days. Will try to real some and answer them soon.
- Jack
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Subject: ugh
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (
pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Date: Nov 2 1996 - 1:50pm
Carl & The Passions -- So Tough
They were getting recognition once again, this time for the superb
music of Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson. Surfs Up was
receiving great notices and the group was playing exciting,
impressive two-hour concerts instead of forty-five minute
string-o-hits shows. A pair of bright entrepreneurs booked Carnegie
Hall for the grand return to New York and the event was a triumph.
Rolling Stone and Melody Maker, the western world's musical
tastemakers-extraordinaire, declared them valid, vital and highly
worthy. College students, who had disdained them only a year earlier,
now flocked to see and hear and scream and cheer them. The Beach Boys
were back.
We had to prepare a new album for Warner Bros., which by then was
very supportive of the immense progress made.
I disliked going to their office on Ivar Street in Hollywood,
preferring to work from my little rustic house in Topanga Canyon.
Creativity was better in Topanga, but my absence from the office
provided both space and opportunity for the losers to plot.
As I moved to shift the power balance from Love, Jardine and Johnston
to Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson, sparks flew. The
non-Wilsons first aligned themselves with Nick Grillo and his trusted
assistant Steve Love, both of whom did little to mask their contempt
for me and the path I had chosen to rekindle the group.
Within a few months, private detectives were hired to follow my car,
check up on my friends and dig into my private life. That really got
to me. I felt violated. The fun of contributing to their career was
disappearing fast. The joy of music was being eclipsed by stench from
the swine.
You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone was the first basic track I
recall being recorded for the album. Brian was really into composing
and recording the song, which he did with Carl's funky voice in mind.
I titled it and took quite a while to write the lyric. It's one of
the lyrics for the Beach Boys that still makes me feel real good to
think about.
About that time Brian began talking in detail about a massage parlour
in West Hollywood and one of the girls who worked there. At first he
spoke only of going there for massages. Some days later he began
going on and on about the masseuse who he said was turning him on. He
was hot for Marcella. One day I arrived at Bellagio to find him
showing off a dildo. He needed the dildo, he said, to impress
Marcella. His dick was too small, he protested, so he needed the
dildo to show off. It was not the first nor the last time that Brian
devoted hours to discussing his sexual insecurities. The fact that he
had given birth to two girls was, he said, proof that Murry was
right: Brian wasn't a real man. Murry fathered three boys, Carl had
one and another was on the way, Dennis had fathered boys. But he,
Brian, could only father girls. The conversations went on for hours
at a time. Then there came the day I was in his living room with
Carnie and Wendy when Brian strode in, a huge dildo protruding from
beneath his jeans. I was repulsed as Brian caused Carnie to come over
to him while he talked about the dildo. When I chided Brian, he
reacted by telling his daughters, "Carnie, Wendy... I'm not your
father." Soon I evacuated the kids to the garden.
The only thing I could think of to quell Brian's fixation was to
channel it. Thus it was I who suggested Marcella as the title for a
tune Brian had been working on. With my promise to write the Marcella
lyric, he jumped into the project with immense enthusiasm. Brian,
Carl, Desper and I worked hard on that record. Dennis helped too. The
zither was a cool idea but it was mixed poorly. My lyric was minor...
efficient at best.
On the night we finished the mix, Love came by to give it a listen.
He stood in the corner of the control booth behind the mixing counsel
as the tape rolled. Rather than really listening to the music we had
created, Love began rehearsing his stage moves. He acted out "One arm
over my shoulder" by placing his right arm over his left shoulder.
"Sandals dance at my feet" had him pointing the index fingers of both
hands to downward. "Eyes that'll knock you right over" found him
sailing his hands from the side of his head on a downlward arc. And
on "Ooh Marcella so sweet" he cradled his crossed arms and rocked
them a bit. I nearly got ill.
More as soon as I have a chance.
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Subject: fresh....
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (
pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Date: Nov 3 1996 - 8:20pm
Just heard Pet Sounds for the first time in soooo much time and it
still sounds so fuckin great and exciting. Pure joy.
- Jack
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Subject: Smile
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (
pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Date: Nov 11 1996 - 8:15am
Damn, my heart was fluttering when we set-up the multitrack at Carl's
place to listen to the Smile tapes. I had read every word that had
been published about Smile before starting to work with the Beach
Boys. Unlike some, I was and remain a real fan of Smiley Smile. But
my whole being was going bananas to hear the real thing.
I listened to all of the tapes at least 100 times... some of them
much, much more.
There are frequent moments, phrases, sections and entire passages
that excite me more than any released record or CD I have heard.
Instrumentation that soars, harmonic structure that tingles the skin,
melodic moods that are profound.
For example, Heroes and Villains is absolute genius, even though it
is fragmented. The Fire tapes are terrifying, even though parts are
missing. Cabin Essence is hypnotic, spectacularly so, even though it
is unfinished. Wonderful reached only demo stage on Smile.
As most everyone knows, the album was not completed. Using today's
recording techniques, the raw master tapes could be manipulated and
blended by wannabe producers and well meaning fans and
hucksters/exploiters, much as photos of total strangers can be
transformed into apparently seamless family portraits. But there is
no album.
If it is ever to be completed, then it must be finished by Brian
Wilson and probably supported-assisted-compiled by Carl Wilson.
Umberto Eco wrote about an abomination called the Palace of Living
Arts in Los Angeles. It features three dimensional, wax, life-size,
full-color reproductions of Leonardo's Mona Lisa, El Greco's Cardinal
de Guevara and other great works of art. Those who visit are
encouraged to have faith in fakes.
Smile, the album, does not exist. It is a collection of unfinished
works, not just a few of which are masterpieces, a couple others
mastersnippets, still more just incompleted bits and pieces. Those
who would enhance, blend or hawk Smile as a nearly completed album
are mere vendors of fakes.
- Jack