Jack Rieley Speaks, Part One
Here are the PSML (Pet Sounds Mailing List) messages from Jack Rieley that I have a record of (the rest I have will be in part two):
Follow up:
what's the deal here?
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 4 1996 - 3:20pm
Historical society? Trivia collectors? Freaks? Musicologists?
It would be helpful to know, first off, what this list is all about.
- Jack Rieley
thankz for the explanation
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 4 1996 - 7:46pm
Appreciate the intro to your list.
Briefly,
- I got involved with them because I believed then, as I do today, that Brian Wilson is the greatest composer of this century. At the same time, having seen their absurd, hideous live show (string-of-hits, striped shirts, bullshit), I felt it criminal to see how the group so misrepresented / ignored / negated / yeah, even violated that unfuckinbelievably gorgeous music. So I was determined to change things.
- Have never read a Beach Boys book or article since leaving the zoo. Friends have asked me to, warned me not to, begged me to, etc. Also have not ever granted interviews to anyone writing those books.
- I listen to today's music 90 percent of the time, which does not include the Beach Boys. When I have the occasion to hear Brian Wilson's music of the period from shortly after the beginning through about '74, I am enchanted.
- Carl Wilson has, for my money, one of the greatest fuckin voices ever recorded. He is also an incredible songwriter when he is inspired.
- Still today I miss Dennis very much. Very very much.
- Jack
RE: thoughts on what Jack R. said....
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 6 1996 - 4:44pm
okay, on to your comments/questions...
you wish someone would do today what i did and change things for them. kewl. i haven't a clue what they are currently doing on stage. i dropped the string-o-hits bullshit in favor of a 2-hour concert that included the then-current songs, stretched-out lesser-known jewels, etc. in that period i had them save the surfing schtick for the encores.
You ask...
I'm curious - I don't know much about your involvement with the BB's (except that you were, what, a manager, for them in the early 70'?), but I know that some of their most-respected work (Sunflower, Surf's Up, Holland) were created while you were around.... Have they asked you, ever, to come back...? Why did you leave, or were you asked to leave? (Okay, all, now I'm showing my ignorance...).
My only involvement with Sunflower was as a consumer. Pleased you like Surf's Up and Holland. I tried to leave the group when Holland was finished, because I chose not to return to the U.S. -- wanted instead to live in The Netherlands. They insisted I should run things from Amsterdam, a ridiculous pseudo-solution because of the distance involved and the day-to-day need for up-close interaction with BW, CW and DW. When Carl ran into domestic tumult and I wasn't around, he felt let down. I did return on several quick occasions at the request of Brian, Carl and Dennis. Also came back to help the family upon Murry's death (wow, that was a weird week). Eventually it became clear to them that I had lost interest in being zookeeper.
You asked as well why I have gave interviews for the books about the group. It was partly because of an overdose of confidentiality I felt toward them for a long, long time. Living in Europe, as I did until 2 years ago, also gave me a healthy dose of disdain for the breathless-supermarket-style of writing that passes as research and journalism here. From what I have been told, the true story of Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson and those other guys has certainly not been written yet.
- Jack
thoughts on what Jack R. said....
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 7 1996 - 11:32am
You wrote:
Okay, now we're getting somewhere. So Jack Rieley, what do you think of _Stars & Stripes_?
Have only heard it once. Don't plan to listen again.
My question: were the Beach Boys surviving doing things that way? Did they chuck critical respectability to pay the bills, or just to *increase* the profit?
Neither one or the other. The Beach Boys has been a bitter power struggle since shortly after the beginning. Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson represented the creative side: the appeal to musical beauty and romance and funk and get-down and freakz/fanz; Love, Jardine and Johnston represented unbridled commercialism and power. Before I got there, Love, Jardine and Johnston had control. Because Brian or Dennis often didn't bother to show up for meetings, the vote was general 2-3 against them.
When I arrived and changed the group's direction, it signaled a change in the power-center as well. With the backing of Brian, Dennis and Carl, I fired Johnston, who had stymied the group's creative cohesiveness. At the same time I encouraged the Wilsons to act as a unit. Votes shifted to 3-2.
Interestingly, Beach Boys record and live revenues soared in that period, having suffered heavily in the period that ended with the sales debacles 20/20 and Sunflower.
Upon my departure, the Wilsons went back to disarray. Carl was going through terrible domestic problems. Dennis was having a divorce. Brian adjusted poorly to life back in Belair after his highly creative, physically positive (he rode a bicycle daily and lost weight) stay in The Netherlands.
Love and Jardine saw the hole in their armour and rammed through to renewed supremacy. Their musical/ideological vision of the Beach Boys was totally different from that represented during my period there. Love's bitter resentment of Brian's musical genius and his newly re-won power meant it was back to shuck and jive. Within a year the Beach Boys had returned to the state they were in before I came along, but with revenues built upon those generated during the Surfs Up, So Tough, Holland, Live In Concert period.
Could this have been prevented? The Wilsons should have determined my successor. They did not.
- Jack
Re: Thanks, Jack!/"Tree" song question
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 7 1996 - 6:17pm
You wrote:
My first question would be: how about telling us what really went on with that wonderful "Tree" song! I know some people on the list have mentioned they don't like it, but some others, like me have said they love the song and couldn't imagine anyone else singing it and giving it the same feeling that you did. Any recollections other than the "Brian was crying afterward -- and I don't know if he really was moved by it or just giving me the business" (paraphrased), would really be welcome.
Brian Wilson and I had been talking a lot about the sorry state of the planet back then. He was filled with questions and we went on for hours about it. Forests were dying, the air had turned brown, the earth's future was beginning to appear hazardous to health. When Brian first played the chords and sang the tentative melody for me, he asked what the song should be about and I suggested a single tree as metaphor for the earth; that single tree as metaphor for more than ecology. I fell in love with the chords at once and loved the swelling tension of that droned bass line; the song seemed to lend itself to the lyrical concept. He went nuts for the lyrics when I showed them to him. Loved 'em, memorized the first verse and was singing around the house. Carl and I were positive that Brian had to sing A Day In The Life Of A Tree.
We recorded the instrumental track in a few days. On the day we were to record the lead vocal, I was with the engineer in the control room (this was in Belair, at the Bellagio house) and Brian was in the studio. He did a few warm-up takes and then, dramatically animated as was in wont, tore the headphones from his ears and exclaimed that he needed me to help him. I went out into the studio and he pleaded that he just wasn't getting the feeling that I intended with the lyric. "Show me what I'm supposed to do," he insisted, handing me the headphones as he ran to the control booth.
I did about 5 takes of the song, all except for the false-setto bit near the end. Each time I screwed up one part or another, and after each take Brian used the talkback to inform me something like, "I see what you mean. But how about the blah-blah part. Do another take so I'll know just how to do the song." And dumb me: I did another take.
It was after one of those that Brian burst from the control booth to the studio, laughing loudly, a proclamatory laugh. He rushed me like a bear, raised both arms into the air as would a victorious high school athletics coach and exclaimed that I had just done the final lead vocal!
I protested. It was turing into another BW cop-out, I suspected. But by then Carl was there too. He said Brian had told him a couple of days previous that I had to sing Tree. It had all been cooked in advance.
To my astonishment, the false-setto bit turned out easy. After Van Dyke's bit, the added voice at the end is Linda Jardine.
Reports of Brian crying, with joy or otherwise, upon hearing my vocal are bullshit.
You wrote:
Really enjoy your lyrics, also. Did you write songs before you got involved with the Boys, and did you write any songs after?
Not much before. Since then I have.
As to "Smile," I certainly have a something to say about that, but must save it for another time. Suffice it to say, the "Smile" tapes as they are reportedly being circulated are not exactly kosher.
Regards,
- Jack
FW: Jack Rieley on Dennis Wilson
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 8 1996 - 12:09am
Ron,
No one could have been a better friend than Dennis Wilson.
I met him in New Mexico just weeks after being signed up with the Beach Boys. He was on location for Two Lane Blacktop, the minor opus he did together with James Taylor. Dennis scared the shit out of me upon our first meeting, greeting me with a mistrusting stare, scowling and shouting-spitting the words, "So you're the asshole who's supposed to save us, heh? Well guess what, ass hole: I'm quitting the Beach Boys." Speechless, I wanted to crawl back to the rental car and drive off. After staring me down for another long moment Dennis' face changed abruptly to a caring, bashful smile. He put his arms around me. "Carl says you're the best thing that has happened to him!" I was confused, maybe even trembling slightly.
It was the odd beginning of a deep friendship.
Collaborating with Dennis meant brooding with him, being harsh with his self-indulgence, providing encouragement to his brilliance. When he sat down and played the piano and sang, I could not help but feel excited.
He loved his brothers very deeply. He was in awe of Brian; always concerned about Carl. "Gotta watch out for the quiet one," he warned frequently with a wink.
I firmly believe Murry convinced Dennis during early childhood that he was a dumb fuck. And I am certain that Dennis worked most of his life to live up to his father's definition.
Once, in Milwaukee when he met my father, he embraced him and said he was "humbled" to "be in your presence."
I must once share with you the bizarre tale of a night in London, long after I had left the group, when Dennis broke down my hotel door because he was afraid I was dying. He was trying to save me.
Remind me as well to take time, sometime, to relate the story of Murry's funeral.
On a visit to L.A., a year or two after the Holland album, I stayed at Dennis' house in Malibu for a few nights. He was still with Barbara then. I was to fly to Milwaukee in order to visit my dad before returning to Europe. About 4 a.m. on the last night of my stay with them, Dennis came into the guest bedroom and awoke me with a gentleness that grips me still. He looked grim, sad beyond words. "Your brother is on the phone," he said softly, caressing me as a parent caresses a child. My brother had phoned to say our father had died.
When we played a free gig at the California state prison for women, I nearly flipped to see how many of the inmates knew Dennis personally. Of course the Manson girls were there, hooting and cheering every song.
His solo album may be a bit over the top, but it is filled with so much intensity, so much raw emotion, so much musical mastery and beauty that now, just thinking about it, I get goose pimples everywhere.
- Jack
FW: thoughts on what Jack R. said....
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 8 1996 - 12:12am
You wrote:
Maybe this is a dumb question, but did this cause any bad feelings between Bruce and the three Wilsons? Did Bruce resent the Wilsons?
During my time there, Bruce consistently displayed pure, shameless disdain for Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson.
Also, was Bruce's "Disney Girls" put onto Surf's Up (the album) before or after he was fired...???
Before. Bruce asked me to write lyrics for the song. I declined.
- Jack
FW: LANDLOCKED
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 9 1996 - 12:42am
Sorry, but gotta make this brief just now. What I am setting out is a broad outline of a very detailed period.
Before agreeing to join them I set a few conditions... No more striped shirts or 45-minute-string-o-hits shows, but concerts instead. Brian would agree to finish Surf's Up and to allow its release. Carl would be the musical leader of the band, which he was anyway but never got the authority.
Landlocked came to me as an album title because it represented departure: it was meant as a demarcation line, separating striped shirted bullshit that had become irrelevant -- an object of public scorn -- from artistry, new creativity, great new songs. We even had a cover: stark bright white san-serif letters on a stark black field.
Then I heard the songs, among which were titles like Loop De Loop and others which were, believe it or not, even more forgettable. I was perplexed: no strategy was worth anything without the goods, and the goods were not there. Embarrassed, I met with Mo Ostin at WB, who listened to the tunes and declared "no way."
Toward the end of that meeting, during which Mo explained that WB had already dropped a whole lotta cash by signing them (Mo was a true Brian Wilson fan), I made him a promise: Brian would finish Surfs Up, we would retitle the album Surfs Up but the cover would be miles away from the beach. Mo gave me encouragement to lobby hard for the solution. By then I had seen how Carl had so much incredible composer potential within him, trying hard to get out, so a new album began formulating in my head.
The cover was something that caught my eye at an antique shop near Silver Lake. It was a painting and I bought it. Reminded me a bit of the old Brother Records logo, but it was different.
Brian flaked out too many times to recall. "There is NO WAY for me to finish that track," he wailed with mock emotion. I reminded him of his promise and he eventually agreed to go into the studio (the living room), where he duly went, albeit with lots of push.
Meanwhile, Carl Wilson and I began to write. Long Promised Road began to be created. Then came the seed for Feel Flows. Til I Die became a must. Tree was born. Love, Jardine and Johnston began to get testy about it all. There was a long meeting during which they tried to force me to march into Mo's office and sell him on Loop. I refused and Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson backed me up. Love, sensing that I might be on to something by rejecting the string-o-hits crap as out of date, suddenly came up with Student Demonstration Time, which had Carl and I blushing with embarrassment and which thoroughly disgusted Dennis. Then Jardine demanded that his Feet song go on the album. Johnston got Tears. When Carl and I compiled the album running order, most versions had the Wilson songs on one side and the jive on the other. It was uncool, so we changed to the running order you know.
I really liked San Miguel but the thing was just a hook, not a song, so we had to can it.
- Jack
You wrote:
Was there an album in the can when you entered into the Beach Boys? (before "Surf's up - after "Sunflower".. There was a lot of tracks in the can as we all know and songs like Lady, Loop-de-loop vanished into obscurity. Did you advice them not to release them or had they already rejected them? Songs like "Lookin' at tomorrow " and "Take a load off your feet" was included on LANDLOCKED - a possible followup to SUNFLOWER. Did the album LANDLOCKED (or any album) existed when you went into the picture or is it just a myth
J.R. & "San Miguel"
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 9 1996 - 5:04pm
Retro,
I still hum it... guess it has always been one of my favorite hooks... has that same special flair of Dancin In the Streets and other gems.... perhaps you should know that the decision to can it was made by Dennis Wilson, with Brian Wilson and Carl Wilson and I supporting him.
- Jack
----------
From: Retro
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 1996 12:35 PM
To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Subject: Re: J.R. & "San Miguel"> I really liked San Miguel but the thing was just a hook, not a song, so =
> we had to can it.
>
> - JackSan Miguel is one of my favorite BB songs. It just rocks. I don't
know about it being "just a hook." Dennis wrote (and produced) a gem with
that one. It should have been on an album."Retro"
RE: LANDLOCKED
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 9 1996 - 5:13pm
Will,
It's not always wise to let one's personal feelings toward artists influence our opinion about their art. Johnston has written songs which have clearly touched you, and nothing about his actions need change that. After all, Disney Girls has not been unmasked as a repackage of Mein Kampf.
Remember, we all have the option of liking the art while concluding that the artist is a schmuck.
- Jack
RE: Q for Jack R.
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 9 1996 - 7:10pm
i have never heard a word about love's earthquake song.
no, surfs up was never meant as an eco concept album.
- Jack
RE: Surf's Up
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 10 1996 - 1:42pm
Paul,
Absolutely correct, and thanks for jogging my memory. Fourth Of July was set for the album but then fell victim to glaring envy -- so the world got Feet instead.
- Jack
'Til I Die
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 13 1996 - 9:52am
Mike,
Near the end of recording of the Surfs Up album, in a parking lot off Sunset Boulevard where Love, Jardine and Johnston requested that I join them at some awful vegetarian restaurant, following a meal that they raved about and I detested, after they had complained with particularly venomous fervor about the brothers Wilson, Love took me aside, stared furiously at me, curled his lip and snorted nastily, "Long after you are no longer part of the Beach Boys, I will be writing songs with Brian, and don't you ever forget that." He stabbed the air to emphasize "don't", "you", "ever" and "forget." That wasn't all. I..." he exclaimed, "I AM the Beach Boys!"
Love didn't have much good to say about 'Til I Die, Tree, Long Promise Road or Feel Flows. They were depressing. They were downers. They were too ethereal. They were trivial. He accepted the importance of Surfs Up in a commercial sense, but derided its artistic merit. He hated Burlesque more than anything, particularly because its lyric is a about a stripper and even more pointedly because of the last line of that lyric. Fascinating, I thought, considering the man's own private life, that he was so adamant about family values on Beach Boys songs.
Burlesque was Brian at his most passionate, most playful, most daring, and it would have made a really cool track on the album. But Love killed it.
Brian Wilson created 'Til I Die. No one else. There is a certain moment in that song, as it begins to go into the fade chorus, just as the overlapping voices haunt us, at the split-second the resolve begins, during which -- when I hear it -- time stops, space disappears and E doesn't equal mc2 anymore. Genius.
- Jack
He sings, "These things I'll be until I die."
In Concert
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 13 1996 - 9:53am
Leon,
During the tour that produced In Concert, Carl and I went out to the mobile truck after the gig to listen to what had gone on tape. Outside of a few out-of-pitch harmonies and the odd flub, one problem real got to us.
The two tracks upon which the grand piano was recorded seemed to be out of synch to the rest of the multi-track. We couldn't figure it out. The engineers swore there was nothing wrong with the tape transport. Cables were always a problem, but could they produce a delay? It was eerie. The next day we listened again and the problem remained. Spooky. Eventually we got round to listening to the piano tracks while muting the rest. Nothing seemed really wrong. In fact an engineer put a stopwatch to the solo piano tracks and it never varied in beats-per-minute, from beginning of each song to the end. At last that was our clue. We began muting just the piano and listening to the rest and, sure enough, the band started at a certain b.p.m. but, as a song went on, often speeded-up a bit. Enthusiasm, the live-vibe, whatever you wanna call it, inevitably caused the tempo to increase as songs went along. But Darryl Dragon, who wore earplugs, stayed consistently at the original tempo. He was right, the rest of the band was wrong, but we had to re-record numerous piano parts after the tour.
Otherwise, In Concert was really a live album. There were studio overdubs but certainly the album was not "faked." The bit about them not knowing the words to Don't Worry Baby is utter bullshit, as is the assertion that Caroline No was only a studio job.
The last time I listened to the album, maybe a year or two ago, it still sounded fuckin great.
- Jack
how we met
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'Beach Boys list' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 13 1996 - 9:58am
I met Carl Wilson, Love, Jardine and Johnston at the Pacifica studio in Los Angeles in 1970. Brian Wilson and I first met personally when he asked me to visit him at the Radiant Radish.
During a long broadcast report I did then about the decline and fall of the Beach Boys, I told them the group was acting as though their fans were chumps by doing 45-minute string-o-hits sets; that they looked irrelevant and totally out of touch wearing uniforms on stage; that the music which had touched peoples' hearts -- Brian's music -- was being neglected.
They asked and were told that I had previously worked as reporter / news director for a San Juan NBC affiliate.
As to those various bios you refer to, I have never read any of them. A couple years after leaving the group, friends cautioned me about an NME article that defamed my character. That one time I read the article and had legal counsel act. A prominent apology and retraction of all negative references to me -- they were all provably false -- quickly appeared in the NME.
But I was busy with my own life. I was living in Europe, far from the zoo which interested me less and less. Your reference makes me think I didn't miss much -- I don't really get off on taking legal action.
Upon getting to know them, Carl Wilson and I hit it off. Brian Wilson and I hit it off. Later, when I met Dennis Wilson, we too hit it off. Their then-business-manager Nick Grillo and Steve Love disliked me from the start. Love, Jardine and Johnston wanted me on board to improve their image. However, I believed then, as I do today, that the projection of their image depended upon the content of their records and live performances.
- Jack
RE: Questions for Jack Rieley
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 14 1996 - 11:04pm
Dauber,
No idea about Feet except the distorted voice sings 'Take care of your feet.'
As for Feel Flows, the song was composed, written and recorded under seriously powdered conditions. Carl and I worked on it for days at Bellagio, often getting trapped in laughing jags that seemed unending and thus made the sessions more fun / exciting and the music more daring. The guitar solo is Carl's best in his life. The lyric came to me in the studio early one summer evening just after the solo was recorded. Trapped with Carl in another laugh riot, I somehow managed to overcome the effects and drive over to Carl & Annie's place on Coldwater to write in peace. Half way and numerous lines through the lyric Annie and I got still deeper into one of those laugh jags. I couldn't stop until going out back, stripping off my clothes, jumping into their pool and swimming for a long while, still strongly under the influence. When I came out of the water it was to find that Annie had taken my clothes and hidden them inside the house. Prude me slightly freaked and pouted until I got them back. By then the idea for the lyric changed somewhat and all the lines I feel good about began popping into the song. The middle part, with Carl's unfuckinbelievable solo followed by the synth and flute, is the sound of orgasm, plain and simple. My favorite things on the song are Carl's "ah-yeaahhh-yeah-yeah" rounds during the solo and my "aaaah" exclamation. It's all about orgasm, dewdz.
- Jack
----------
From: DAUBER
Sent: Monday, October 14, 1996 6:52 PM
To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Subject: Questions for Jack RieleyNever mind the bullocks, here are some REAL questions!
1) Regarding "Take A Load Off Your Feet"--there was a bit of disagreement on what the fade-out vocals were singing. It sounds to me [although I think I'm dead wrong] like "Be sweet to your feet." Others say they think it's "Pete's feet are your feet," and God knows how many other interpretations there have been...do you know/remember???
2) Another _Surf's Up_ song--"Feel Flows"--has caused some debate. I think that the song is about transcendental meditation. I think it was David "Imponderables" Feldman who said it's about sniffing cocaine. And I've seen MANY people say that it's about...CUNNILINGUS! What's the straight dope on this song???
RE: Dennis Wilson
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 15 1996 - 1:08pm
Dennis Wilson's music had little influence from Darryl Dragon. Darryl sometimes enabled Dennis' more over-the-top arrangements, but not the compositions.
- Jack
RE: To Jack Rieley -- A Quick Question
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 15 1996 - 3:42pm
white puff glisteny shadowy flow
black puff glisteny shadowy flow....
----------
From: DANIEL LEGA
Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 1996 3:28 PM
To: Pet-Sounds@lists.primenet.com
Subject: To Jack Rieley -- A Quick QuestionHey Jack,
Could you please tell me what the lyrics are in "Feel Flows"
that I can't understand -- and which weren't printed in the
lyric sheet? It's the part that's I guess you could call the
chorus -- and which to me sounded like, (everyone prepare to
laugh,) "White glove glistening shadowy flows,
Black glove . . . "
Or . . . "Wipe off glistening . . . "
Jack, if you can help me out here I'd appreciate it!
Thanks, Dan Lega
RE: Attn: Jack Rieley (Surfs Up)
From: Jack Rieley
To: 'pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com)
Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 15 1996 - 8:45pm
Rick,
Re-read my earlier response and you'll see I was referring to him complaining, wailing MOCK emotion.
Brian Wilson loved Surfs Up. He knew very well that it may be one of the most important pieces of music in this century. He was dying for Surfs Up to be acknowledged for what it is, but terrified that it would get ignored, discarded, lost, much as Heroes and Villains was virtually ignored years earlier.
In short, Brian Wilson lived in terror of public failure. A lot has been made of his drug use/abuse, which may indeed have had searing effects upon him. But it was the public failure of Heroes to to wow Capitol and thus wow the world that caused him to withdraw. When the withdrawal began to attract notice, Brian's keen senses picked up on the fact. Soon he was feeding off the crumbs of legend available to "Brian Wilson, eccentric recluse" -- a hideous second-best to the public acclaim he was denied.
No wonder that he was unsure of my plan to complete Surfs Up and release the track.
As related earlier, I changed the album title from Landlocked to Surfs Up. The shift was to principally honor the song's greatness. But the shift was also evidence to Brian that I was serious about making his work shine. At the same time, the re-titling served to prevent Brian from giving in to his terror.
The arrangement that you hear on the album resulted from many talks with Brian, and a careful examination of the real Smile tapes -- the originals. Carl and I got Brian's explicit support to remove the originals from the vault and take them to Carl's place on Coldwater, where the two of us listened to songs and snippets, full works and outtakes, night after night after night. Without even an engineer around, we tried mending and splicing the brittle multitrack recordings. Sometimes we succeeded. With the Fire tapes, which were there but damaged (and not by fire), we had to settle for long passages and short gaps. There's much more to say about Smile, of course, but this note is about Surfs Up.
The song was in several disjointed, uncompleted sections. Child was clearly intended to be the climax. After many nights of listening -- at least two with Brian on Coldwater with us -- we set out to construct and reconstruct. I first flirted with the thought Brian should sing the lead on the first section, but Brian insisted that Carl do it, and Carl was clearly thrilled. It was the right thing to do. The Brian solo section is of course constructed around Brian's televised appearance for Leonard Bernstein. Carl played the bottom end synth, I decided to cut all effects from Brian's voice on the title line. We had lots of musicians in to redo parts of the track that had been played badly. Recording went on for several weeks, with Brian very involved but Carl heading the effort. It was going to be a masterpiece. By the time we got to Child, some of the moving parts had Brian excited and active. He chose Carl for a couple, took on a two for himself, assigned two more to me, got Marilyn for still another. Desper seemed to realize he was recording something extraordinary: his acid humor was replaced by, ahh, reverence.
Credit for the brilliance of Surfs Up, the recorded song, must be shared by Brian Wilson, who composed that incredible crown jewel, and Carl Wilson, who guided and nurtured the amazing recording project, in addition to singing a truly spectacular lead vocal. My own role was to fight through Brian's terror with honor, respect and enthusiastic persistence, so that you all could hear Surfs Up.
- Jack
----------
From: Rick Mannor
Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 1996 5:28 PM
To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Subject: Attn: Jack Rieley (Surfs Up)Jack Rieley wrote:
>
> Before agreeing to join them I set a few conditions... No more striped
> shirts or 45-minute-string-o-hits shows, but concerts instead. Brian would
> agree to finish Surf's Up and to allow its release. Carl would be the
> musical leader of the band, which he was anyway but never got the
> authority.(snip)
> Brian flaked out too many times to recall. "There is NO WAY for me to
> finish that track," he wailed with mock emotion. I reminded him of his
> promise and he eventually agreed to go into the studio (the living room),
> where he duly went, albeit with lots of push.With this post you pretty much addressed my question about Brian's attitude towards the song "Surf's Up" in 1971. However, I'm still curious as to his initial reaction when you made this a condition for managing the band. I would also like to know if he actually tried to redo his vocals and/or suggested the "Child is the Father of the Man" coda. As I stated in my first post, I feel this is the best song the Beach Boys have ever released. It sounds like we have you to thank for it ever seeing the light of day.
Rick
Permalink
Comment feed for this post