A Q&A with Brian Wilson

[sea of tunes]

http://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/music/qa-brian-wilson

[Andrew G. Doe]

I think there's a certain degree of tongue-in-cheek going on here... 

[sea of tunes]

Isn't there always? 

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

That guy knew jack sh*t about Brian,  and I can tell Brian was fucking with him a bit!

How does VDP compare to Joe Thomas? Really?! I mean, I think Parks is an asshole  (based on my own experience ) but even I think that's a ludicrous question.

[“Big Daddy”]

I immediately turn off from liking the author of an article about Brian when there is a “Smart Girls” mention in the introduction

[joshferrell]

the part where he asks Brian if he ever heard the stereo mixes of Pet Sounds, then Brian responds with how he couldn't because he was deaf in one ear, reminds me of that part on "Walk Hard-The Dewey Cox story" where the interviewer asks Dewey if he had ever stopped and smelled the roses, for which he replied "I have no blankety-blank sense of smell." lol...

[RONDEMON]

This was a GREAT interview! Who else has ever asked him about Smart Girls??

Brian has some pretty bizarre stock answers. Check out the one about "sampling"

[Autotune]

Not every interview or article can be written by an expert, or a hardcore fan. The guy did his homework to the best of his ability and produced one of the most entertaining and playful BW interviews of recent times. Also, he seems to be transcribing verbatim answers, which means that Brian is giving longer and more engaged answers these days.

[HeyJude]

I don't think the interview was *that* bad. It was sort of a weird hybrid of the "knows nothing about Brian but wiki'ed it for five minutes before the interview" sort of interviewer and the "is moderately informed on Brian" interviewer.

But jeez, the most lucid artist ever doesn't always remember every track and every album, especially when they've done like 30 or 40 albums or whatever it is, and especially stuff that went unreleased. (Even McCartney one time joked that he flipped over an album like "Press to Play" and looked at the songs *he* had written and asked himself "I wonder how that one goes?")

I'd rather see an interviewer get as specific as possible with Brian rather than super general, even if it results in some scattered answers.

I will say that this is yet another interview where Brian continues to be highly complimentary, respectful, and a gentleman when discussing Van Dyke Parks and Mike Love even when those guys won't do the same when talking about Brian. Whether it's by choice or because Brian has a better PR person, taking the high road like that is quite refreshing. I sense no sarcasm when Brian HIGHLY praises the work of both Mike and Van Dyke.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I will say that this is yet another interview where Brian continues to be highly complimentary, respectful, and a gentleman when discussing Van Dyke Parks and Mike Love even when those guys won't do the same when talking about Brian. Whether it's by choice or because Brian has a better PR person, taking the high road like that is quite refreshing. I sense no sarcasm when Brian HIGHLY praises the work of both Mike and Van Dyke.

It's because Brian may just be the kindest, gentlest soul on Earth.

[undercover-m]

With “Pet Sounds” was there an appreciable difference to your ears between the mono version and the stereo version?
Well, I’m deaf in my right ear, so I couldn’t be able to give you an answer.

That’s really interesting. So when you wrote it, you wrote it specifically with mono in mind?
Right.

So you’ve never heard the stereo version at all then?
No, I haven’t.

I guess he's just actually making sure he's actually deaf... 

[marcusb]

With “Pet Sounds” was there an appreciable difference to your ears between the mono version and the stereo version?
Well, I’m deaf in my right ear, so I couldn’t be able to give you an answer.

That’s really interesting. So when you wrote it, you wrote it specifically with mono in mind?
Right.

So you’ve never heard the stereo version at all then?
No, I haven’t.

I guess he's just actually making sure he's actually deaf... 

I've got a question about this. I've seen references to Brian having some sort of surgery to correct his hearing.. but I've never seen him address it. Any truth to this? Did it just not work?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Carl spoke about the operation sometime in the (early ?) seventies. Obviously it didn't work.

[marcusb]

Carl spoke about the operation sometime in the (early ?) seventies. Obviously it didn't work.

Interesting. I don't know anything about hearing loss, or what really caused Brian's, but I find it interesting that they even thought it could be corrected.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Carl spoke about the operation sometime in the (early ?) seventies. Obviously it didn't work.

1971, if I recall correctly

[Douchepool]

"Well, Mike Love is probably the greatest lyric writer in the world. I think he’s my favorite lyric writer. He just wrote a lot of good songs."

Elephant in the room.

[Autotune]

"Well, Mike Love is probably the greatest lyric writer in the world. I think he’s my favorite lyric writer. He just wrote a lot of good songs."

Elephant in the room.

Mike just posted a link to the interview on his FB, including a commentary on it and quoting Brian's answers. He seems to be happy about it, and it's nice that both acknowledge each other. And I think he's right about Mike (as Brian's best lyricist during their peak). Expect more bile from other camps though.

[GhostyTMRS]

Brian and Mike are far more complimentary about each other than people give them credit for.

[The Cincinnati Kid]

"Well, Mike Love is probably the greatest lyric writer in the world. I think he’s my favorite lyric writer. He just wrote a lot of good songs."

Elephant in the room.

Quite a turn around from the answer he gave when Melinda was with him.   

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

"Well, Mike Love is probably the greatest lyric writer in the world. I think he’s my favorite lyric writer. He just wrote a lot of good songs."

Elephant in the room.

Mike just posted a link to the interview on his FB, including a commentary on it and quoting Brian's answers. He seems to be happy about it, and it's nice that both acknowledge each other. And I think he's right about Mike (as Brian's best lyricist during their peak). Expect more bile from other camps though.

Isn't posting about expecting 'more bile from other camps' before anybody has even said anything derogatory a bit biluous  itself?

I may be 100% on team Brian,  but I've ALWAYS said Mike was Brian's best lyricist,  pet sounds aside.

[Wirestone]

"Well, Mike Love is probably the greatest lyric writer in the world. I think he’s my favorite lyric writer. He just wrote a lot of good songs."

Elephant in the room.

Quite a turn around from the answer he gave when Melinda was with him.   

Which was?

[SMiLE Brian]

Exactly wirestone!

[The Cincinnati Kid]

"Well, Mike Love is probably the greatest lyric writer in the world. I think he’s my favorite lyric writer. He just wrote a lot of good songs."

Elephant in the room.

Quite a turn around from the answer he gave when Melinda was with him.   

Which was?

He doesn't think about Mike anymore and doesn't want to talk about him.  In interviews like this one, he's always very positive about Mike when he is by himself.

[HeyJude]

How many joint interviews has Brian done with Melinda in the last 15-20 years? Wasn't the one interview they gave in the last month or two one of the first they had done in ages? I believe they may have done a few internet Q&A's as well. How often is Brian giving joint interviews at all?

Brian has actually been giving more unfiltered interviews than anybody else lately. Would any of the other guys have let through a "Did you bang my Mom?" question? And Brian answered it to boot! And it was one of the funniest answers he has ever given? AND... now that I'm thinking about it, wasn't that one actually from one of the joint Q&A's he did with Melinda?

And, I think the original point still stands. Brian has in recent years has, at absolute worst, shown perhaps brevity when asked about Mike, and usually has been complimentary. I won't dredge up the litany of things Mike has said about Brian just in the last few years, but it's a bit ball of genuine compliments mixed in a bunch of back-handed compliments mixed in with rather unflattering things about Brian's present and past.

If someone can show a pattern of Brian being negative about Mike predominantly only in joint interviews alongside Melinda, I'd like to actually see the evidence. I'd even argue that "I don't think much about him" isn't overtly terribly negative. It's perhaps dismissive. Then again, Brian tends to give very blunt answers that usually aren't meant to carry some subtle undertone of dismissiveness.

I do think it's possible that some PR folks or Brian himself could have decided in the aftermath of C50 that they should just avoid talking a lot about Mike in general, especially after the diatribe "interview" Mike offered to David Beard as NPP was being readied for release.

[HeyJude]

Duplicate post.