Beatles and Dylan collectors chased The Basement Tapes, The Decca Audition Tapes, and many of rock music collectors tried to accumulate live recordings of as many concerts as possible by their favorite artists. Finally, The Grateful Dead and Little Feat decided to set up taper's sections at their shows. All of this brings to mind the need of an artist to set down their ideas on tape or canvas, versus the public's desire to hear or see the works in progress or the discarded ideas that did not reach fruition. There was an American Masters biography of Neil Young last month that perhaps explained the situation many artists face when they are true to their muse. Neil made the point that had he not stayed true to his art, he would have not been able to respect himself. At times, artists want to grow, and the public's expectations stifle growth. Certainly many groups have faced the dilemma of producing what the public demands versus their own desire to move forward artistically.
For years, The Beach Boys had to deal with questions about Smile. It got to the point to where several groups members just began to give ridiculous answers to interviewers' questions. Yet, we as listeners fail to realize that episodes in a music group's life like Smile can be terribly painful to discuss. For years, Pete Townshend utilized interviews to refine his creative ideas. Some 30 plus years after initially conceiving the project, Pete chose to release what he had as a boxed set with a recording of the Lifehouse radio play and the various Lifehouse demos. Brian Wilson's Smile was on the shelf until his family realized that he would only gain some inner peace if he were to walk through the storm. With the help of Darian Sahanaja and Van Dyke Parks, Smile was reformatted as a live performance work, and came to be regarded as a tour de force which surprised Brian, and redeemed both men's outlooks on their creative ideas some 37 years prior.
Sometimes artists die and leave behind a body of ideas that would not have been released had they lived in the manner the came out. I listened to Buddy Holly's incredible 6 cd set and discovered how his sketches on tape were changed by Norman Petty after Buddy's death. I had met Mr. Petty in the 70s, and toured his studio while he was still alive. I asked him about Buddy, and he felt that his work had presented Buddy's work in the best possible light. Elvis Presley's work has been issued as concert tapes surfaced, or demand for detailed and well organized boxed sets of studio outtakes grew. Jimi Hendrix's work was released posthumously and controversy followed each release. When Jimi's family finally gained control of the rights, releases became more refined and praised instead of being called exploitative.
Rarely do outtakes live up to their imagined excellence upon finally hearing them. I was fortunate to be involved with the release of the Smile Sessions Boxed Set in 2011, and I think it probably addressed the legends that had built up around those sessions in a manner that was a win/win situation for Brian and Van Dyke and The Beach Boys too. The Beach Boys' hard work on those sessions was vindicated, and Brian was able to let the music stand on its own due to the public reaction to his 2004 version of Smile. For most of the public, they have little interest in outtakes because they like to hear familiar versions of music that bring back memories. For those of us who have "insatable curtiosity" as Rudyard Kipling called it....there is always that next version, that unheard version, that song that someone raved about to pursue and possess.
Copyright by Peter Reum 2013-All Rights Reserved
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