The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson are fucking brilliant thread

[Rev Arthur Belling]

I suspect that Brian's apparent discomfort in that photo may also have had something to do with the state of Al's (and especially Bruce's) trousers. 

Leggy Mountbatten would have had a field day.

(Mind you, Dennis looks quite chuffed.)

[thecuriousorange]

Who are the main US "Macca" figures for events like this? I imagine Stevie Wonder, but that's not going to happen. What about dad-rock doyens The Eagles?

[Howj Begg]

The Eagles no longer exist. Henley sure as hell isn't a Trump supporter.

[thecuriousorange]

[Head Gardener]

I have been reading David Hepworth's book Never A Dull Moment - 1971 and am up to the bit when the Beach Boys released Surf's Up
and did their infamous Rolling Stone interview, it's really interesting and well recommended.

[ajsmith]

I've just finished Mike Love's auto-biography. A thing of Patridge-esque beauty.

I just finished it too. I didn't get a Partridge vibe off it at all: it fact it came across to me overall as a very fair and measured (at times drily objective if anything)  account of the groups history, with detours into Love's often disappointingly self aware and humble descriptions of his private life.

Yes he does go on a bit about how much he contributed to their early songs, but it's clear this is something he felt unfairly wronged about for 25 years, and Occams Razor does point to him deserving credit for his contributions to the songs, unless you're into performing some drastic mental gymnastics to believe otherwise (this is the point where someone will mention his minimal contribution to the end of 'Wouldn't It Be Nice', leaving aside the other 34 songs which he contributed more significantly to).

[Sparers]

Would anyone care to talk me through Heroes & Villains? So many different versions/parts. Smiley Smile version is best for me. Cantanta, Bycicle rider and that go on too long. What's the story? Love this live version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPjIdE3soQI

[Porter Dimi]

Would anyone care to talk me through Heroes & Villains? So many different versions/parts. Smiley Smile version is best for me. Cantanta, Bycicle rider and that go on too long. What's the story? Love this live version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPjIdE3soQI

Prefer the Smile Sessions version personally, but then my first exposure to the song was through a bootleg recreation of Smile by PurpleChick. Isn't it about American Indian genocides?

Great thread, by the way. Still don't think All This is That gets the love it deserves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SruCNOALxTA

[Sparers]

That's the problem, so many different versions. Love Carl & The Passions/So Tough. Blondie singing Here She Comes a highlight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJtoQV54n_g

[ajsmith]

Everyone can relax. Mike Love's Beach Boys will not be among the galaxy of stars performing at the inaug.

https://www.58pic2017.org/press-releases/pic-announces-special-inaugural-celebrations-opens-ticketing-to-public-even

'It will feature historic remarks from President-elect Donald J. Trump and special appearances from Toby Keith, Jon Voight, Jennifer Holliday, The Piano Guys, Lee Greenwood, RaviDrums, 3 Doors Down, and The Frontmen of Country (featuring Tim Rushlow, former lead singer of "Little Texas", Larry Stewart of "Restless Heart" and Richie McDonald of "Lonestar"). The Celebration will also feature the participation of military bands as we honor our Armed Forces across all inaugural events and a fireworks show by Grucci at the conclusion.'

[Nowhere Man]

Looks like more new music on the way!

[Nowhere Man]

On SmileySmile someone linked back to this fantastic interview with Carl from 1989, during the whole Landy debacle. Very honest and candid.

CARL WILSON interview/ May Fair Hotel, London, Sept. 8, 1989

LK: Are you happy to be back with Capitol?

Carl: It's a good business move. I hope it works out all right.

LK: Why only five new songs on Still Cruisin'?

Carl: I wanted more new songs. Capitol only wanted three, we managed to get five.

LK: Why didn't you include songs like "Chasin' The Sky", which also were on film soundtracks?

Carl: No, that's CBS material, and they have the right to it a few more years. A new Caribou compilation album may come out soon.

LK: Why didn't you write any songs for Still Cruisin'?

Carl: I did write one, with Phil Goldstein, but I wasn't satisfied with the way it turned out in the studio.

LK: Will you record a third solo album?

Carl: I may, and I would like to work with different people for it.

LK: What I would love to see is an LP with you and Brian!

Carl: Oh, that would have been great. But at the moment the situation is extremely difficult.

LK: In what way?

Carl: It has to do with Landy, but I can't say anything it now. There will come a time...

LK: Why isn't Brian with you on the European tour?

Carl: I don't know. I called him several times, but I only got his answering machine. But he did tell my mother that he wanted to come. I have seen very little of Brian the past six years.

LK: It seems that Mike has sort of taken over the leadership of the Beach Boys right now?

Carl: That's right - he's drive, drive, drive all the time. He loves business, he's always on the phone. Michael was very excited by the "Kokomo" success.

LK: At one time you left the group because you felt the Beach Boys didn't take the live group seriously enough.

Carl: Yes, that was in the summer of 1980 after the European tour. The excitement of that trip carried us through, and Brian was with us - that was special. But then it started to get boring, the band wasn't alive, we didn't do our best. Of course, you go through the motions playing the same songs night after night. We've been doing it for 28 years.

LK: So why don't you include songs like "Cool, Cool Water" and "Caroline, No", for example, instead of doing cover versions like "Little Old Lady From Pasadena" and "Little GTO"?

Carl: We have done "Cool, Cool Water" from time to time, and we did "Caroline, No" last year. I would like to do that more, but I'm in a minority in the group. Of course, there are times when each one of us is more active. Sometimes it's Al, and he does more of his stuff, now it's Michael. I hope Brian gets more involved. I spent some time with him in the studio when he recorded "In My Car" and it was great. I like the music, but Brian should collaborate with his peers, not Gene (Landy) and wife. These lyrics: "I'm master of my fate when I accelerate," ... what? (Carl laughs and shakes his head). Gene couldn't hit the right note even if his life depended on it! I said to Brian, "Feel free to call me." But Landy doesn't like me because I say the truth.

LK: Do you like Brian's album?

Carl: Oh yes. It's too easy to say, "it's not Pet Sounds," but that's not the point. I especially like "Let It Shine". I have heard tapes from Brian's next LP. It's fantastic!

LK: Speaking of Pet Sounds, it has now been released in Japan for the second time - why isn't it out in the States?

Carl: That's a Landy problem. He wanted producer credits on it.

LK: Some say it's possible to get Pet Sounds in stereo?

Carl: Yes, it definitely is. It was mixed in mono, but recorded in stereo.

LK: Will we ever see a Smile release?

Carl: I feel Smile is incomplete. To go back and finish it, I don't know.

(At this point the lady from the record company knocks on the door, our 20 minutes are up. But Carl says he wants to go on!)

LK: When will see a new album of Beach Boys songs?

Carl: Well, we've certainly run out compilations, don't you agree? The new LP should have been called 5 Big Ones (laughs). Perhaps next summer.

LK: If you could freeze Beach Boys in time, which period would you choose?

Carl: I don't know, we've learnt so much from so many periods. And you don't learn anything when everything is great! But I would perhaps say around Friends. The group was pretty close. We all had families and took time to see our kids grow up. It was great, too, in the beginning, when my father worked hard to get us a recording contract with Capitol. He also produced half of our first album, was that Surfin'... (Carl apparently does not remember which LP came first!)

LK: Safari.

Carl: Yeah - not many people know that.

LK: Do you miss your father?

Carl: Sometimes, but it's been so long since he died.

LK: What about Dennis?

Carl: Oh God - Dennis... that was a big blow, it put us all in a strange place.

LK: Did the group consider breaking up after his death?

Carl: No, it brought us all closer together. With Dennis there were some really difficult times. But he was a great guy with a big heart.

LK: Will the Beach Boys see their 40th or 50th anniversary?

Carl: No, no. Michael will probably be there... (smiles). What I would like us to do in the future is get together from time to time for special occasions, like fund raising shows. I am certainly not willing to keep going at this level, playing 100 shows a year. I would like to produce other people, among other things.

LK: In 1978 there were talks about the Beach Boys going to Russia...

Carl: Yeah, but then Carter and Brezhnev started quarreling. I hope to play there some time. We tried to arrange a free concert in East Berlin during this tour, but it didn't happen. I really feel for those people.

LK: The Stones have been away for several years and now they've come back with their best album in a long time .Do you feel the Beach Boys ought to do the same?

Carl: Oh yes, that would have been good for us. I have said it many times: we ought to take a break and come back with a fresh view. I would hope Brian would come back with us, but those ridiculous Landy demands. Brian is Landy's life...

LK: But would Brian have been alive today without Landy?

Carl: No. And I will thank him for that. But he should stay out of the music and the business.

LK: The "Brian Is Back" campaign during the 70s...

Carl: That was early, but I think it did him some good, touring with us.

LK: You seem more open about certain subjects now; you were always very protective of the group?

Carl: Well, I'm more confident. And there comes a time when you no longer can say "Oh Brian? He's okay."

(here the journalist gets a little bolder)

LK: You have had your problems as well. In Australia (in the 70s) you fell off the stage?

Carl: Oh yeah. That was a combination of tranquilizers and alcohol. They were difficult times, powers were ripping the group apart.

LK: There were rumors that you took heroin?

Carl: No I did not, not at all.

(Time for something completely different...)

LK: Have you heard the Wilson/Phillips group?

Carl: My nieces? Oh they're very good, I think they will get a hit. They've gotten tons of money from their record company, and the best songwriters in New York. They work really hard - that's the key. I tell my own children: you must practice! That's what we did before we made it, many hours a day.

(Another knock on the door, nearly an hour has passed and Carl Wilson is off.)

[Rev Arthur Belling]

This REALLY got my attention.

"LK: Do you like Brian's album?

Carl: Oh yes. It's too easy to say, "it's not Pet Sounds," but that's not the point. I especially like "Let It Shine". I have heard tapes from Brian's next LP. It's fantastic!"

That (Brian's next LP) would have been 'Sweet Insanity'.  It's good to know that brother Carl was on board with this.  I'm still reduced to a gibbering wreck whenever I hear the original (Sweet Insanity) version of 'Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ih0mj3ZdEQ

[Nowhere Man]

"Living out in LA..... such a beautiful dayyyyyyyy!"

I know its stupid and cheesy as fuck, but I honestly love It's A Beautiful Day from 1979. Miles more fun and catchy than anything else post 1980, and the pillocks gave it a 'single only' release!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOVV1ML6CsA

..and a few other favourite late 70s BB/BW tracks, not counting the obvious Love You / Adult Child material:

My Diane (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkenuxWdk-Y

A great Denny track from the dreaded MIU.

Winter Symphony (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBk2Ms1fLqw

from the abandoned WB Christmas Album.

Still I Dream Of It [Demo] (1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKEsehvPOvM

Achingly fragile but beautiful demo, which was later released on Brian's solo IJWMFTT album.

[PaulTMA]

Someone To Love from Sweet Insanity is excellent.  Wish I could hear a version arranged to sound more like it was recorded during the Love You sessions.  But a cleaned up release of it would do just fine.

[Custard]

This new compilation looks quite nice - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_%E2%80%93_Sunshine_Tomorrow

1967 – Sunshine Tomorrow is an upcoming compilation album by American rock band the Beach Boys, to be released by Capitol Records on June 30, 2017. It focuses on previously unreleased recordings from late 1967, particularly sessions dedicated to the group's 13th studio album Wild Honey (December 1967). Included is the album's first ever complete stereo mix, various live renditions, session highlights, and additional material sourced from Smiley Smile (September 1967) and the unreleased live effort Lei'd in Hawaii, both of which immediately preceded the Wild Honey sessions.[1]

[SteveDave]

I'm listening to the new 1967- Sunshine Tomorrow thing now. It's amazing! There are horns in the verses on Darlin'. They're pathetically quiet on the version I've already got. Here they're blaring away.

This is how you do a modern remix.

Giles.

[DrGreggles]

That Brian solo Surf's Up is fucking beautiful.

[the science eel]

Seeing him tomorrow. Expecting it to be emotional.

[the science eel]

It was great, thanks for asking!

[SavageHedgehog]

Sorry, but I can at least back you up. Saw the tour at the Hammersmith Apollo on Tuesday. Saw the 50th Anniversary Beach Boys tour, but never saw any of Brian's solo shows; glad I waited (to the extent it was a choice) until now, Blondie Chaplin and Jardine Sr and Jr added a lot. Pet Sounds was played after the intermission, first half of the show was about 20 songs, with a six-song encore at the end of the night. Mostly pre-Pet Sounds songs, barring a couple of spotlight selections from Holland for Al and Blondie (who also did an excellent version of Feel Flows). The main exception, interestingly, was a handful of songs from Wild Honey, which has had me revisiting an album I often overlook. This is apparently the first time either he or The Beach Boys have played Let the Wind Blow since the early 70s.

[Paaaaul]

Sorry, but I can at least back you up. Saw the tour at the Hammersmith Apollo on Tuesday. Saw the 50th Anniversary Beach Boys tour, but never saw any of Brian's solo shows; glad I waited (to the extent it was a choice) until now, Blondie Chaplin and Jardine Sr and Jr added a lot. Pet Sounds was played after the intermission, first half of the show was about 20 songs, with a six-song encore at the end of the night. Mostly pre-Pet Sounds songs, barring a couple of spotlight selections from Holland for Al and Blondie (who also did an excellent version of Feel Flows). The main exception, interestingly, was a handful of songs from Wild Honey, which has had me revisiting an album I often overlook. This is apparently the first time either he or The Beach Boys have played Let the Wind Blow since the early 70s.

There was a recent re-issue called 1967 Sunshine Tomorrow which is fucking brilliant. It contains a new stereo version of Wild Honey, the previously unreleased Lei'd In Hawaii album, and a load of Wild Honey and Smiley Smile out-takes along with some live tracks.

[SavageHedgehog]

Cheers. Al Jardine did actually note Wild Honey was "the lead single from our new release, Sunshine Tomorrow" after they played it (Blondie on lead vocals), but I was obviously in such a cynicism-free mood that I didn't even link that with the number of songs they played from Wild Honey until now (no Smile/Smiley Smile stuff outside of Good Vibrations though).

[the science eel]

Blondie's solo-ing and stage-stomping was about the only thing I didn't like about the show.

Al and his son were great. And the drummer was fucking incredible.

[the science eel]

And yeah, get that new comp. It's excellent.

[Nowhere Man]

Glad you had a good Time, and yeah pick uo that album when you get the chance. Honestly Sunshine Tomorrow is revelatory in how it shows you that Brian was essentially still running the show despite what the myths will have you believe. This is still Brian's band, so to speak.

[daf]

Sunshine Tomorrow is great - I love that specially de-tuned piano & bass sound he used around that time.

The piano was slightly detuned, which Brian says made it "more like a twelve-string guitar, to get a more mellow sound. ... I loved what it did to the sound of the record."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Honey_(album)#Style_and_production

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Blondie's solo-ing and stage-stomping was about the only thing I didn't like about the show.

Al and his son were great. And the drummer was fucking incredible.

I really enjoyed Blondie's axe wig-out on Wild Honey. It could've been embarrassing and self-indulgent, but it's one of the highlights of a great show. He sounds terrific singing Feel Flows and Sail On, Sailor too.

I agree that Al and his son are a standout. Al's voice hasn't aged a jot, and Matt's mimicry of Brian's young falsetto is incredible.

The whole band are outstanding, of course.

[Nowhere Man]

New Brian recording, from his upcoming (September 22nd) Solo 'best of' album.

https://pitchfork.com/news/listen-to-brian-wilsons-new-song-run-james-run/

Not what I was expecting at all. Sounds almost like an outtake from Little Deuce Coupe or Shut Down Vol. 2, but with modern Brian ..

which means to say that of course I really like it!

(Of course it's not up to 1961-1971 era standards but I don't think much else is)

[Smeraldina Rima]

That's a beautiful wistful chorus, nicely arranged. It works well with modern Brian's voice in a way the standard surfy rock verse doesn't really. Pretty intro too. Thanks NM.