The Formation of the Sound of the Beach Boys by Peter Reum
The summer of 2016 has been a year of gaining some perspective of The Beach Boys' first studio recordings. The folks at Omnivore Records are the first company to have unrestricted access to the full sessions that were recorded in 1961 and 1962.
As noted by James Murphy, author of Becoming the Beach Boys 1961-1963, this is the first complete study of the founding of the group that became the favorite American Band in the Rock Era. Murphy has raised the quality of the discussions and the information and regarding the dynamics of the extended families of the Wilson and Love clans. Brian in his own way became an apprentice in the record producing community by helping the Beach Boys understand what the Morgans were expecting in the performances of these pioneer recordings.
Complete Beach Boys Early Sessions CD Package Cover
The group's willingness to rehearse and perfect the songs that form their output with the Morgans led to Hite Morgan being willing to pay for studio time to attempt to get useable (read releasable) recordings from the band. The stories of the practice sessions for Surfin' in the Wilson's music room are almost legendary. The release of a few practice takes of Surfin' from the legendary Tapes From Audree's Garage earlier in this century illustrated just how rough the group sounded before recording with the Morgans.
In listening to these tapes, it becomes apparent that Brian Wilson was already directing the group in their singing, with Morgan calling off takes and steering the group toward a more commercial and professional sound. That Brian understood the importance of sounding professional, even in these first recordings, foreshadowed his streak of perfectionism with group vocals in the group's Capitol Records period of recording.
The essence of the spirited singing that has characterized the group through 54 years of music recording and performance emerged from the ease that the Wilsons as a family harmonizing time spent around the piano or organ at the Hawthorne home. Music was also a center of activity in the Love household. Music had a calming effect upon the Wilson Brothers and Murry when Murry was angry. Although many articles have stated this point, the use of warm and harmonic singing has been a prominent tool for deescalating family members with toxic levels of anger in families and schools for generations. It is often said that you cannot entertain toxic anger and soothing harmonic singing simultaneously.
The fact that Morgan only recorded nine tunes with The Beach Boys is indicative of a hesitation to commit money or time over the long term to help the group's popularity grow. For the Morgans, it appears that they hoped to get a hit single out of the sessions, but did not envision a longer term commitment to the group. This conclusion is fortified by Murry Wilson's disclosure in a 1971 extended article in Rolling Stone in which Murry states that he offered to have the group affiliate with the Morgans for an extended recording contract and music publishing contract only to be told by them that they did not see enough talent in the Beach Boys as a group to justify a long term financial commitment.
For years, these seminal recordings were vilified by the Beach Boys as being primitive and many attempts to market the nine tunes were halted by the Beach Boys' attorneys. Despite the static the recordings generated in the Beach Boys, it seemed that after their 1969 Era album premiere, there was often a minor record company that managed to get an album out despite legal threats from the Beach Boys. After a number of expensive court battles, the legitimacy of these nine songs was affirmed, and the Morgans were able to license them for release. Occasionally, the tunes were licensed by the Morgans to be released outside the United States. The first known foreign releases occurred on the Ariola label in Germany and more obscurely in Canada. The reader is referred to Jim Murphy's excellent notes contained in the Omnivore Records double cd.
What observations can be gleaned from these most primitive but spirited recordings?
1) Even at this early date, Brian was already honing the Beach Boys' vocal sounds, working with them in the studio live while recording, or rehearsing for live performance. The basic modus operandi of Brian's vocal production style was here in the fountainhead of the earliest recorded works.
2) The years of studying the arrangements of the Four Freshmen led to a beautiful vocal blend, even in these early recordings. They may be heard most prominently in the outtake tune Lavender.
3) The prominence of Mike Love's voice for uptempo tunes is very important, with the nasality and at times humorous sound he employed marking the Beach Boys' uptempo numbers as nearly being exclusively his. The vocals he recorded on the tapes herein and future songs for Capitol Records were immediately recognizable as being by The Beach Boys, even 50 years later in their Reunion Tour of 2012.
4) As Fred Vail has stated many times, it is disingenuous to exclude Murry Wilson from the credit he deserves in using his own music publishing experience to help begin the Beach Boys in their efforts to get played on stations using a Top 40 format around the United States. That he made so much of an effort to promote the group is an undeniable fact.
5) Brian's songwriting, as primitive as it is in these early recordings, created a perfect opportunity for the Beach Boys to sing about the California teenage scene they knew intimately and which was seized upon by youth all over the world. The humor in the lyrics Brian and Mike Love wrote was never at other people's expense, and made the group human and approachable.
6) A young Carl Wilson plays the guitar with style and panache. His sounds were the root of the instrumental tracks Brian cut with the band.
7) The life that The Beach Boys chose was a reflection of all that was right and wrong with Southern California culture. The active, outdoor lifestyle that The Beach Boys promoted in their songs was a pattern which nearly every town in the United States aspired to become. That things would get complicated in the mid and late Sixties was a combination of freedom and autonomy that previous generations of teenagers never even approached. That the group managed to get through those more complicated times is because of their being related to each other.
8) The pattern of Brian's writing and arranging in the early and middle Sixties is present in these nine tunes. Beautiful aching ballads like Lavender (not written by Brian) and Surfer Girl contrast well with uptempo "lifestyle" songs about Southern California such as Surfin', Surfin' Safari, and Judy. The pattern of a Mike Love sung tune on the 'A' side of a single followed by a slow romantic ballad sung by Brian continued until 1967.
9) There has often been humorous, and sometimes serious speculation about what group members would have done vocationally had they not been in a hugely successful American band. This type of thinking has been applied to the Beatles, Elvis, and other popular acts. The question that goes begging is why did the Beach Boys, Beatles, or Elvis succeed when so many acts failed? The answer that each band or singer had in common was a person who believed in them and went out and marketed them as important artists. Murry Wilson, Brian Epstein, and Colonel Tom Parker were examples of canny managers who took care of the business end of the music biz so that each artist could focus on their artistic flashes of creativity.
10) Finally, if one goes to the earliest recordings of each artist, there is obvious raw talent that needed careful supervision and encouragement from members' families. It is apparent that people from the families of major talents as cited above were behind their son's efforts in music. If one endeavors to examine the family dynamics of each group member, there was always at least one family member who was unfailingly encouraging of their show business inclined family member/s.
If you are so inclined, I would encourage each of you who read this short article to spend some time with their favorite artists' first recordings. In listening to this fine package put together by Alan Boyd, Mark Linett, Brad Rosenberger, Jim Murphy, and Cheryl Pawelski, it is obvious that they do their best to present Beach Boys work in a positive, yet truthful light. That Brother Records finally consented to a comprehensive package of these recordings is demonstrative of everyone's acknowledgement of their importance in Beach Boys history.
Copyright 2016 by Peter Reum--All Rights Reserved.
The Jim Murphy History of the Early Beach Boys
Pick it up if you haven't read it.
SURFIN' SAFARI REVISITED by Peter Reum
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Commonly regarded as The Beach Boys first album, Surfin' Safari has been critically underrated when compared to Brian Wilson's later efforts. As is well known, The Beach Boys were signed by Nik Venet upon Nik's audition of the 5 track demo tape the Beach Boys recorded with Murry Wilson. In the Mid Seventies, I had the chance to speak with Nik by phone several times while researching. Nik regarded Surfin' Safari as a "good beginning" and indicated that the biggest challenge in recording was "dealing with Murry." Nik felt that Brian had rehearsed the Beach Boys thoroughly, and essentially led the band in the studio. When asked to expand on his opinion, Nik indicated that Murry would "be critical of the Beach Boys after every take." Brian became somewhat frustrated, but perservered.
Surfin' Safari, as released by Capitol with 409 as a flip side, was a break out in Phoenix, Arizona first. The initial version had been cut at World Pacific Studios on February 8, 1962. That version would see American release in January 1970, although another take was issued on Ariola in Germany, and is rare. Both sides of the single were played throughout the Southwestern USA,, and I recall hearing both on clear channel radio KOMA in Oklahoma City. The anecdotal background of 409's recording is already famous, but suffice to say, Gary Usher drove past Brian's Wollensak Tape Recorder several times, waking up Murry and the neighborhood. The Beach Boys' first Capitol single was estimated to have sold between 800,000 and 900,000 copies nationwide. It began the pattern of a surf tune and car tune on a Beach Boys' single which was repeated with Surfin' USA/Shut Down, and Surfer Girl/Little Deuce Coupe.
As a premier album, Surfin' Safari has long suffered from comparisons to Brian Wilson's later efforts. Lenny Kaye in 1972 compiled a set of so called Garage Band tunes under the title Nuggets. The contents were representative of a variety of sections of the country. If one were to play Surfin' Safari/409 as a part of this set, their sounds would blend easily with the rest of the set. There are variety of tunes, but the Nuggets set became a benchmark for the punk rock movement in the mid Seventies. It was encouraged that young producers during the Punk movement find unsigned bands and record them, and issue the singles in limited editions. Such labels as Stiff and Bomp were well known for their breaking of new talent. It is unusual that people have not identified Surfin' Safari as a Pre Punk New Wave album. The sounds inside, most of them recorded in one day at Capitol Studios, fit right in with mid Seventies New Wave. If there ever was a pre New Wave musician, it would be Dennis Wilson. Dennis's reputation in Hawthorne both as a tough guy and teenage lothario are legion. Dennis alone made The Beach Boys New Wave before it was acceptable.
Brian Wilson's accomplishments as an in studio producer on Surfin' Safari album are also underrated. The album has a primitive but clear quality to it that belies the time in which it was recorded. It is as well recorded as many of the songs featured on Nuggets from later in the Sixties. The Beach Boys' musicianship on Surfin' Safari is basic, but competent. Dennis kept a solid backbeat on the album, and Carl's lead guitar is a major strength. As a slice of teenage life in Southern California in the early Sixties, this album hits the bullseye. County Fair is a Brian/Gary Usher tune that shows the influence of the Coasters and other Leiber/Stoller groups. In essence, it is a comical send up of a weakling who got lucky and had a cute girl on the line. The identity of the carnival game barker is Nik Venet. It becomes clearer as the song goes along that the hero of the tune is going home alone. The song's genius is that it is, and always has been a summer treat to take a date to any county fair across the Midwestern and Western US. Here in vastly rural Montana, our county fair is still the highlight of the summer. Had Capitol decided to release County Fair as an A side instead of Ten Little Indians, the Beach Boys third single (second on Capitol) might have been a national hit. The melody to County Fair was recycled, as Brian was prone to do, as I Do, cut by The Beach Boys and Castells. Ten Little Indians, besides being somewhat naively derogatory to Native Americans, has a driving backbeat and reached number 49 on the national charts, which would be their lowest position on the charts until Bluebirds Over the Mountain in 1968. One of my prized possessions for many years was a Swedish picture sleeve, where Ten Little Indians reached number 6.
Chug-a-Lug has references to a number of the Beach Boys' friends of the time. There are little slice of life observations about all of The Beach Boys and some of their close friends. Brian plays a nice organ bridge, followed by some tight guitar from Carl. There is some slapback on Carl's guitar that makes the solo immediately recognizable as a surf tune, even though the subject matter is cruising and hanging out. The song foreshadowed the Mid Seventies movie Hollywood Knights, which featured a cameo appearance by Humble Harv of Smile notoriety. Little Girl (You're My Miss America) is an early Herb Alpert/Vincent Catalano song, recorded at The Beach Boys marathon session for Surfin' Safari's tunes on September 5, 1962. It is probably most notable for being Dennis Wilson's first lead vocal. While his vocal is a little weak, the purity of his voice is most notable, especially when contrasted with the mid Seventies. Mike Love's refrain vocal is prominent and nicely done. Perhaps the thing most missing in this tune is a bridge, and it sounds less sophisticated than The Beach Boys' own songs on this album. Of course, Herb Alpert later became half of Irving/Almo, which bought Sea of Tunes from Murry Wilson.
409 and Surfin are earlier recordings placed on the album because of their status as regional and national hits. 409 was cut at Western Studios by Murry Wilson, and to his credit, it has a punk feel to it that makes it a worthy follow up to earlier car songs like Maybelline and Thunder Road. Once again, though it is a car song, Carl's solo is pure surf guitar, quite beholden to Chuck Berry. What I love so much about this tune is how the engine roars at the beginning, with occasional appearances throughout the song. The backbeat doesn't even kick in until the eighth measure, with the rhythm guitar keeping a perfect time with the drums. Surfin' is legendary, and the background vocals owe a debt to Jan Berry, who cut the tune with The Beach Boys as their backing band on their Take Linda Surfin' album. The tune was cut by Hite Morgan as one of several primitive recordings that were first issued in 1969. The track was licensed by Hite Morgan to Capitol for inclusion on this album. Rehearsals for this tune were recorded on Brian's Wollensak recorder, and were included on Capitol's Hawthorne, California archive set.
Heads I Win, Tails You Lose is probably based on a colloquial expression from the time, and features some interesting vocals from Mike in that he sings in a rather high register for him, then counters with a baritone on the title phrase. The song is competent, but is one of the weaker tunes on the album. Summertime Blues is a rare Brian/Carl lead vocal with Mike countering on baritone on the response. The guitars are nicely miked, but cannot match the original by Eddie Cochran, which was cut at Gold Star Recorders with its famous echo chamber. On Wikipedia, Carl and David are credited as lead vocals. Because David was so infrequent as a singer, it is hard to tell. It sounds like it might be Carl doubling to me. Cuckoo Clock returns to the use of organ on the bridge, similar to other tunes on side one recorded for the album session The lead vocal is by Brian, and he nails it. The lyrics, probably by Gary Usher, are fairly pedestrian.
My nomination for the album's underrated tune would be Moon Dawg. Nik Venet, in my conversation with him, indicated that Derry Weaver had played the lead guitar on the session, duplicating his work on his single from 1960 on World Pacific. Nik Venet also indicated that he did the wolf howling on The Beach Boys' version, as he did on Derry Weaver's version released in 1960 on World Pacific. To me, the guitar sounds like a Carl Wilson solo. At any rate, the song to me is a standout on the album, and foreshadows many of the instrumentals that are well done on Surfin' USA. The album ends with a Mike Love lead vocal on The Shift, which was an A line dress style popular in the early Sixties. There is a nice Carl Wilson guitar solo on the song that is probably the highlight of the record.
Outtakes from the sessions exist, from both the Western Studio demo tape, and a session on September 13, 1962, a week after the main album session. Lonely Sea surfaced on the next album, Surfin' USA. Had it been placed on Surfin' Safari, the album would have been stronger. Their Hearts Were Full of Spring was recorded acapella on Live in London. Cindy O Cindy is a cover version of a Fifties recordings by several easy listening singers. Land Ahoy and Baker Man are Brian Wilson songs, according to BMI's database, and were included in the two album reissue of Surfin; Safari and Surfin'USA. A second version of Judy was recorded on the Western Studio demo tape.
Overall, Surfin' Safari suffers from comparisons with Brian and The Beach Boys later work. Accepted as what it is, it is a promising beginning document which competes well with later Garage Rock and New Wave albums similarly recorded. Take a listen, then play Nuggets or similar compilations to it, such as the Pebbles series. It will shed new light on this seminal album.
Copyright-Peter Reum 2012---all rights reserved
This compendium of Brian Wilson and Beach Boys related tracks was a welcome archival release for those of us who love to hear the nearly lost and obscure music Brian Wilson/Beach Boys related music that emanates from the Universal/Capitol Vault. Like other companies, Universal has to deal with European Copyright Laws which deem that any music not published or released within fifty years becomes public domain. The initial release that sparked record companies scrambling to compile and release tracks that are "aging out" of the fifty year window was a fantastic but very limited Bob Dylan compilation that was released in 2012.
Suffice to say that collectors of obscure music often play a vital role in these types of projects. With the cooperation of The Honeys, Lee Dempsey, Daniel Rutherford, and other parties in the Brian Wilson/Beach Boys world, several of the tracks in this compilation are available for the first time commercially. Some of these selections have circulated in the shadow world of hard core Beach Boys and Brian Wilson collecting for decades, but for the collector who came to that world lately, The Big Beat 1963 is a potential revelation. This compilation includes several very rare reference acetates, which often were used by Brian or The Beach Boys to listen to and critique their own studio work on a home stereo or record player. In some cases, Brian's early production work outside of the Beach Boys was his ticket to subsequent experimentation that he did with Beach Boys records. It is clear from the earliest period of his work that Brian had aspirations to write and produce other artists, as these early recordings demonstrate. Research is showing that Brian recorded the Rachel and the Revolvers and Bob and Sheri singles before he received deserved credit for producing The Beach Boys.
Brian appears to have set up a separate publishing company aside from Sea of Tunes, New Executive Publishing, even at this early period of his songwriting. Add to this his compositions for Jan and Dean records and The Muscle Beach Party soundtrack, and his intentions are very clear. Brian did not want to be limited to giving all of his compositions to Sea of Tunes Publishing, and the quality of his outside productions grew progressively more sophisticated, paralleling his Beach Boys productions. There is some speculation in collecting circles that Murry Wilson paid disc jockeys NOT to play Brian's outside productions, and to play Beach Boys records instead. Due to Murry's untimely passing, we will never know the veracity of such speculation.
Brian's Demos and Productions for Bob Norberg and Vicki Kocher
The Big Beat 1963 begins with a Bob and Sheri tune credited to Brian Wilson as composer entitled The Big Beat. The players are not identified, but the tightness of the arrangement suggests an early Wrecking Crew recording. Musically, the tune evolved into Do You Remember on 1964's All Summer Long album. The background vocals are by Brian and Bob Norberg, with the presence of a tack piano foreshadowing future Brian and Beach Boys recordings. which owe a debt to this pioneering Brian outside production. Ride Away is another Brian composition which is credited as being performed by Bob and Sheri. The tune bears a remarkable resemblance to Surfers Holiday. It is quite possible that Ride Away preceded Surfer's Holiday, but the trading of male and female vocals in the tune is very similar to Annette and Frankie in the Muscle Beach Party soundtrack. As has often been said of Brian, he never lets a good melody go to waste. Thanks to some ground breaking research by Lee Dempsey, we now know that Brian reworked The Surfer Moon into The Summer Moon. Either Bob Norberg or Brian may be heard doubling Vicki's vocal in the background.Vicki Kocher is not the Sheri of Bob and Sheri. That singer was Cheryl Pomeroy.
Brian's Beach Boys Related Demo Work
Mother May I has some chord similarities to Our Car Club, but the vocal almost sounds like a novelty record. 1963 certainly had its share of novelty hits, but Mother May I has what is a fairly straight ahead track and set of lyrics One can only wonder what the motivation for the cartoon like lead vocal might have been. It sits with some of Brian's Seventies work from the "write a song, get a hamburger days" as one of his most unusual compositions and productions. Perhaps it was intended to be a track like Cassius Love vs. Sonny Wilson on a future album. Its closest cousin in the Sixties is perhaps I'm Bugged At My Old Man. Brian's demo for I Do sparkles with the effects of the Gold Star echo chamber. It is a Spector type of production, with Brian's growing mastery of the Wall of Sound in evidence. The tune was cut in a very brief time with preciously few minutes of studio session time remaining. Rabbit's Foot was probably intended to be a Honeys single, but an overworked Brian Wilson chose to take the basic track, which is cited by Brian Wilson collaborator Andy Paley as musically radical and innovative for its time, and reworked the tune into what we now know as Our Car Club. Side Two (Instrumental) to this listener's ears sounds like an alternative approach to Little Deuce Coupe. That would make sense in that it's working title of Side Two (Instrumental) would make it the tune that eventually became Little Deuce Coupe, the actual "B" side of the Surfer Girl single, Capitol 5009. The demo for Ballad of Old Betsy is an unanticipated jewel that makes this collection worthwhile by itself. Brian's vocal may be heard faintly in the background at times.
Brian's Demos For Artists Other Than The Beach Boys or Honeys
Brian's Gonna Hustle You demo has been in the hands of hard core Brian/Beach Boys collectors for 30+ years. For the uninitiated, this tune evolved into Jan and Dean's The New Girl In School, and came to Jan Berry simultaneously with Surf City, Brian's first chart topping composition. Brian's vocal is great, and he also sings the preponderance of the backing vocals with an unidentified backing vocalist in more of a baritone range which could be either Jan Berry or Mike Love, most likely the former. First Rock and Roll Dance is a Brian Wilson composition which owes a great deal to the bizarre "B" sides on the flip side of Phillies Records singles. The record is unusual, with the late"Shutdown Steve" Douglas contributing sax and what sounds like Glen Campbell playing an almost "acid rock era" guitar. It is intriguing to speculate which single might have had this tune as a "B" side, but with Brian's predilection for double sided Beach Boys singles, it was undoubtedly intended for a Brian produced single destined to be outside of The Beach Boys, although whose record it was intended for is unknown. My Bobby Left Me is another example of Wall of Sound style production. The track was another Gold Star recording. The intended artist for the tune is unknown. Given the style of production and Brian's recordings with Sharon Marie, an educated guess would point toward her being the performer. If It Can't Be You is a demo Brian and Gary Usher cut with the intention of going for a more country and pop music oriented sound, in a very similar manner to Sacramento and That's Just the Way I Feel. It was one of the earlier tunes cut written and cut by Brian with Gary, and would fit into a genre in 1962 filled by artists like The Everly Brothers and Gene Pitney. Thank Him is a demo that sounds like a Brian Wilson/Gary Usher tune from late 1962 or early 1963. The tune bears no similarity to any Brian melody I have heard. Given its title, it was probably written for a female artist.
Ginger Blake Recalls The Honeys Work Presented On The Big Beat 1963
You Brought It All On is my all time favorite Honeys track, and features a beautiful Ginger Blake lead vocal on the verses that rides an incredibly catchy melody featuring The Wrecking Crew. The tune was resurrected at my suggestion for the 1980 Ecstasy album by The Honeys. Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford contributes the cool sounding lead vocal on the chorus. "Shutdown Steve" Douglas contributes the sax solo on the bridge. Ginger Blake of The Honeys shares her memories: "You Brought It All On Yourself was a great grooving track recorded at Goldstar Recording Studio with the famous Wrecking Crew musicians. As you know, Brian loved R & B and the Wall of Sound. He merged the two and came up with this fantastic track. Actually The Honeys sing the track in three part harmony as well as in unison. I do tend to be a little bit louder though when there is a driving R & B track to sing to. Marilyn does the counter parts, she has such a sweet voice."
Funny Boy is a catchy Honeys track with a great Ginger Blake lead vocal in the "tough girl" mode of Rhythm and Blues and Rock records of 1963. The song is closely related to Hide Go Seek, the "B" side of the second released single, Pray For Surf. Ginger, in a 1978 interview with me, disclosed that "We (The Honeys) were casting a wide net with the goal of landing a hit single and finding a niche we could use to build upon for future success." In this case, Ginger said: "We were going for a sound similar to the Shangri-Las" (of Leader of the Pack fame). For this article, Ginger added a few more details for me: "Now, Funny Boy was an incredible Honeys song and I do sing the lead vocal . Diane and Marilyn love when I " let loose" and I loved doing it for them and for Brian. We would have loved to really polish it up and finish it and put it out but unfortunately it just didn't happen with Capitol Records."
The Honeys are billed as the artist for Marie, but the track is an obvious Brian Wilson experiment with the sound that Dion DiMucci was getting at the time. Dion's sound was almost immediately identifiable in 1963, and The Beach Boys did The Wanderer live in their late 1963 live repertoire. Dennis's vocal spotlight became a vehicle for letting the young girls of the audience to vent their attraction to him. The Honeys are very obvious on the backing vocals here, and perhaps this was a Brian Wilson solo idea that never got off the ground. It has that "stroll" feel to it that propelled Little Deuce Coupe to the upper reaches of the 1963 Billboard Charts. Ginger Blake: "Brian loved The Honeys Sound so much he always created a background part for himself to sing. We affectionately called him " The 4th Honey."
Make the Night Just a Little Longer is a 1963 Honeys recording that NikVenet produced. Ginger Blake sings the lead with backgrounds by all three Honeys. The strings are mixed highly and prominently in the mix available here. The song is reasonably commercial, but Capitol did not choose to release it. Make the Night Last a Little Longer is the Carole King tune cut by The Cookies originally. A Honeys album was in the works in 1963, but was eventually nixed by Capitol, according to Nik Venet. The album would have been co-produced by him and Brian, Venet said. In addition to the three early Honeys singles on Capitol, the album probably would have included three songs recorded in late 1963 and never released -- "You Brought It All On," a Brian Wilson composition copyrighted January 13, 1964; and "In the Still of the Night" and "Make the Night (Just a Little Longer)." Group member Ginger Blake said "You Brought It All On" was a Brian production and the other two were Venet productions. (Correspondence from Lee Dempsey, 2014)
The Big Beat 1963 closes with several Honeys acetates that I had in my old Collection that were part of a Honeys Fan Album that I assembled in 1978. Apparently Daniel Rutherford also was able to use copies of them belonging to his wife Marilyn, which he made available for this compilation. Concerning these demos, Ginger Blake states: "Diane and I wrote a lot of unreleased music as well as with Marilyn. The demos were made for us to sing and to send out to various artists. They are pretty rough. I played piano on most of them." Once You've Got Him is a demo that Ginger Blake and Diane Rovell of The Honeys wrote. Of this recording Ginger Blake shares that " One song in particular, Once You Got Him, was written with Hayley Mills ( British pop singer and actress then ) in mind. If you listen closely you'll hear us sing it with a British Accent." Of For Always and Ever, Ginger recalls "For Always And Ever was a perfect Honeys song too. It was recorded as a demo for The Paris Sisters" Of the two country demos, Darlin' I'm Not Steppin' Out On You and When I Think About You, Ginger recalls that they were intended for the burgeoning country music market and that "We recorded both of those country demos with a full combo. Jerry Cole played guitar on the country demos." Little Dirt Bike was a cute demo in the spirit of the motocross craze that was exploding across the nation in 1963.
There is the hope that Universal/Capitol will do this type of archival release for each year of the 50+ years of The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson's recording history. If done, it will be an invaluable resource for historians interested in their work.
Copyright 2014 by Peter Reum-All Rights Reserved
Brian Wilson and Other Artists-The Big Beat 1963 by Peter Reum
This compendium of Brian Wilson and Beach Boys related tracks was a welcome archival release for those of us who love to hear the nearly lost and obscure music Brian Wilson/Beach Boys related music that emanates from the Universal/Capitol Vault. Like other companies, Universal has to deal with European Copyright Laws which deem that any music not published or released within fifty years becomes public domain. The initial release that sparked record companies scrambling to compile and release tracks that are "aging out" of the fifty year window was a fantastic but very limited Bob Dylan compilation that was released in 2012.
Suffice to say that collectors of obscure music often play a vital role in these types of projects. With the cooperation of The Honeys, Lee Dempsey, Daniel Rutherford, and other parties in the Brian Wilson/Beach Boys world, several of the tracks in this compilation are available for the first time commercially. Some of these selections have circulated in the shadow world of hard core Beach Boys and Brian Wilson collecting for decades, but for the collector who came to that world lately, The Big Beat 1963 is a potential revelation. This compilation includes several very rare reference acetates, which often were used by Brian or The Beach Boys to listen to and critique their own studio work on a home stereo or record player. In some cases, Brian's early production work outside of the Beach Boys was his ticket to subsequent experimentation that he did with Beach Boys records. It is clear from the earliest period of his work that Brian had aspirations to write and produce other artists, as these early recordings demonstrate. Research is showing that Brian recorded the Rachel and the Revolvers and Bob and Sheri singles before he received deserved credit for producing The Beach Boys.
Brian appears to have set up a separate publishing company aside from Sea of Tunes, New Executive Publishing, even at this early period of his songwriting. Add to this his compositions for Jan and Dean records and The Muscle Beach Party soundtrack, and his intentions are very clear. Brian did not want to be limited to giving all of his compositions to Sea of Tunes Publishing, and the quality of his outside productions grew progressively more sophisticated, paralleling his Beach Boys productions. There is some speculation in collecting circles that Murry Wilson paid disc jockeys NOT to play Brian's outside productions, and to play Beach Boys records instead. Due to Murry's untimely passing, we will never know the veracity of such speculation.
Brian's Demos and Productions for Bob Norberg and Vicki Kocher
The Big Beat 1963 begins with a Bob and Sheri tune credited to Brian Wilson as composer entitled The Big Beat. The players are not identified, but the tightness of the arrangement suggests an early Wrecking Crew recording. Musically, the tune evolved into Do You Remember on 1964's All Summer Long album. The background vocals are by Brian and Bob Norberg, with the presence of a tack piano foreshadowing future Brian and Beach Boys recordings. which owe a debt to this pioneering Brian outside production. Ride Away is another Brian composition which is credited as being performed by Bob and Sheri. The tune bears a remarkable resemblance to Surfers Holiday. It is quite possible that Ride Away preceded Surfer's Holiday, but the trading of male and female vocals in the tune is very similar to Annette and Frankie in the Muscle Beach Party soundtrack. As has often been said of Brian, he never lets a good melody go to waste. Thanks to some ground breaking research by Lee Dempsey, we now know that Brian reworked The Surfer Moon into The Summer Moon. Either Bob Norberg or Brian may be heard doubling Vicki's vocal in the background.Vicki Kocher is not the Sheri of Bob and Sheri. That singer was Cheryl Pomeroy.
Brian's Beach Boys Related Demo Work
Mother May I has some chord similarities to Our Car Club, but the vocal almost sounds like a novelty record. 1963 certainly had its share of novelty hits, but Mother May I has what is a fairly straight ahead track and set of lyrics One can only wonder what the motivation for the cartoon like lead vocal might have been. It sits with some of Brian's Seventies work from the "write a song, get a hamburger days" as one of his most unusual compositions and productions. Perhaps it was intended to be a track like Cassius Love vs. Sonny Wilson on a future album. Its closest cousin in the Sixties is perhaps I'm Bugged At My Old Man. Brian's demo for I Do sparkles with the effects of the Gold Star echo chamber. It is a Spector type of production, with Brian's growing mastery of the Wall of Sound in evidence. The tune was cut in a very brief time with preciously few minutes of studio session time remaining. Rabbit's Foot was probably intended to be a Honeys single, but an overworked Brian Wilson chose to take the basic track, which is cited by Brian Wilson collaborator Andy Paley as musically radical and innovative for its time, and reworked the tune into what we now know as Our Car Club. Side Two (Instrumental) to this listener's ears sounds like an alternative approach to Little Deuce Coupe. That would make sense in that it's working title of Side Two (Instrumental) would make it the tune that eventually became Little Deuce Coupe, the actual "B" side of the Surfer Girl single, Capitol 5009. The demo for Ballad of Old Betsy is an unanticipated jewel that makes this collection worthwhile by itself. Brian's vocal may be heard faintly in the background at times.
Brian's Demos For Artists Other Than The Beach Boys or Honeys
Brian's Gonna Hustle You demo has been in the hands of hard core Brian/Beach Boys collectors for 30+ years. For the uninitiated, this tune evolved into Jan and Dean's The New Girl In School, and came to Jan Berry simultaneously with Surf City, Brian's first chart topping composition. Brian's vocal is great, and he also sings the preponderance of the backing vocals with an unidentified backing vocalist in more of a baritone range which could be either Jan Berry or Mike Love, most likely the former. First Rock and Roll Dance is a Brian Wilson composition which owes a great deal to the bizarre "B" sides on the flip side of Phillies Records singles. The record is unusual, with the late"Shutdown Steve" Douglas contributing sax and what sounds like Glen Campbell playing an almost "acid rock era" guitar. It is intriguing to speculate which single might have had this tune as a "B" side, but with Brian's predilection for double sided Beach Boys singles, it was undoubtedly intended for a Brian produced single destined to be outside of The Beach Boys, although whose record it was intended for is unknown. My Bobby Left Me is another example of Wall of Sound style production. The track was another Gold Star recording. The intended artist for the tune is unknown. Given the style of production and Brian's recordings with Sharon Marie, an educated guess would point toward her being the performer. If It Can't Be You is a demo Brian and Gary Usher cut with the intention of going for a more country and pop music oriented sound, in a very similar manner to Sacramento and That's Just the Way I Feel. It was one of the earlier tunes cut written and cut by Brian with Gary, and would fit into a genre in 1962 filled by artists like The Everly Brothers and Gene Pitney. Thank Him is a demo that sounds like a Brian Wilson/Gary Usher tune from late 1962 or early 1963. The tune bears no similarity to any Brian melody I have heard. Given its title, it was probably written for a female artist.
Ginger Blake Recalls The Honeys Work Presented On The Big Beat 1963
You Brought It All On is my all time favorite Honeys track, and features a beautiful Ginger Blake lead vocal on the verses that rides an incredibly catchy melody featuring The Wrecking Crew. The tune was resurrected at my suggestion for the 1980 Ecstasy album by The Honeys. Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford contributes the cool sounding lead vocal on the chorus. "Shutdown Steve" Douglas contributes the sax solo on the bridge. Ginger Blake of The Honeys shares her memories: "You Brought It All On Yourself was a great grooving track recorded at Goldstar Recording Studio with the famous Wrecking Crew musicians. As you know, Brian loved R & B and the Wall of Sound. He merged the two and came up with this fantastic track. Actually The Honeys sing the track in three part harmony as well as in unison. I do tend to be a little bit louder though when there is a driving R & B track to sing to. Marilyn does the counter parts, she has such a sweet voice."
Funny Boy is a catchy Honeys track with a great Ginger Blake lead vocal in the "tough girl" mode of Rhythm and Blues and Rock records of 1963. The song is closely related to Hide Go Seek, the "B" side of the second released single, Pray For Surf. Ginger, in a 1978 interview with me, disclosed that "We (The Honeys) were casting a wide net with the goal of landing a hit single and finding a niche we could use to build upon for future success." In this case, Ginger said: "We were going for a sound similar to the Shangri-Las" (of Leader of the Pack fame). For this article, Ginger added a few more details for me: "Now, Funny Boy was an incredible Honeys song and I do sing the lead vocal . Diane and Marilyn love when I " let loose" and I loved doing it for them and for Brian. We would have loved to really polish it up and finish it and put it out but unfortunately it just didn't happen with Capitol Records."
The Honeys are billed as the artist for Marie, but the track is an obvious Brian Wilson experiment with the sound that Dion DiMucci was getting at the time. Dion's sound was almost immediately identifiable in 1963, and The Beach Boys did The Wanderer live in their late 1963 live repertoire. Dennis's vocal spotlight became a vehicle for letting the young girls of the audience to vent their attraction to him. The Honeys are very obvious on the backing vocals here, and perhaps this was a Brian Wilson solo idea that never got off the ground. It has that "stroll" feel to it that propelled Little Deuce Coupe to the upper reaches of the 1963 Billboard Charts. Ginger Blake: "Brian loved The Honeys Sound so much he always created a background part for himself to sing. We affectionately called him " The 4th Honey."
Make the Night Just a Little Longer is a 1963 Honeys recording that NikVenet produced. Ginger Blake sings the lead with backgrounds by all three Honeys. The strings are mixed highly and prominently in the mix available here. The song is reasonably commercial, but Capitol did not choose to release it. Make the Night Last a Little Longer is the Carole King tune cut by The Cookies originally. A Honeys album was in the works in 1963, but was eventually nixed by Capitol, according to Nik Venet. The album would have been co-produced by him and Brian, Venet said. In addition to the three early Honeys singles on Capitol, the album probably would have included three songs recorded in late 1963 and never released -- "You Brought It All On," a Brian Wilson composition copyrighted January 13, 1964; and "In the Still of the Night" and "Make the Night (Just a Little Longer)." Group member Ginger Blake said "You Brought It All On" was a Brian production and the other two were Venet productions. (Correspondence from Lee Dempsey, 2014)
The Big Beat 1963 closes with several Honeys acetates that I had in my old Collection that were part of a Honeys Fan Album that I assembled in 1978. Apparently Daniel Rutherford also was able to use copies of them belonging to his wife Marilyn, which he made available for this compilation. Concerning these demos, Ginger Blake states: "Diane and I wrote a lot of unreleased music as well as with Marilyn. The demos were made for us to sing and to send out to various artists. They are pretty rough. I played piano on most of them." Once You've Got Him is a demo that Ginger Blake and Diane Rovell of The Honeys wrote. Of this recording Ginger Blake shares that " One song in particular, Once You Got Him, was written with Hayley Mills ( British pop singer and actress then ) in mind. If you listen closely you'll hear us sing it with a British Accent." Of For Always and Ever, Ginger recalls "For Always And Ever was a perfect Honeys song too. It was recorded as a demo for The Paris Sisters" Of the two country demos, Darlin' I'm Not Steppin' Out On You and When I Think About You, Ginger recalls that they were intended for the burgeoning country music market and that "We recorded both of those country demos with a full combo. Jerry Cole played guitar on the country demos." Little Dirt Bike was a cute demo in the spirit of the motocross craze that was exploding across the nation in 1963.
There is the hope that Universal/Capitol will do this type of archival release for each year of the 50+ years of The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson's recording history. If done, it will be an invaluable resource for historians interested in their work.
Copyright 2014 by Peter Reum-All Rights Reserved
Those Were the Summer Days and Summer Nights by Peter Reum
In 1965, the Los Angeles music scene was evolving at a pace unprecedented in West Coast history. Thanks to the studio musicians now known as the Wrecking Crew, hit after hit from the many studios in the LA area made it the recording capitol of the world. In addition to the numerous groups from LA who recorded in there, acts such as The Rolling Stones, The Who, Simon and Garfunkel, and many more did their recording in Gold Star, RCA, Columbia, Western, and other Southern California area studios. Brian Wilson's producing was known as the pioneering prototype for a new and independent group of musicians who wrote and recorded their own music as they wanted it to sound, without record company influence or control.
USA California Girls Single Picture Sleeve
As with The Beach Boys Today!, Summer Days (and Summer Nights) has a high number of tunes that were placed on singles as either 'A' or 'B' sides. Six of the tracks from the album found a home on USA Capitol 45s in 1965 and 1966. Unlike Today! and other previous Beach Boys' albums, Summer Days had no spoken word segments on it, and even humorous tracks had meanings that remained secrets known only to Brian and a few friends and family members until very recently. The group had dismissed Murry Wilson as their manager early in the Summer Days sessions, and feeling rejected, he had taken to trying to find an act he could write for and manage that would compete with The Beach Boys style and lyrical subject matter. Hence, The Sunrays were born.
Help Me Rhonda was the lead off single from the album, and went to Number 1 on national singles charts, showcasing Alan Jardine doing his first lead vocal on a Beach Boys single. The vocal sessions for the single were painful, and many listeners have heard the session tape, a classic, yet jarring reminder of Murry's jealousy of Brian's talent and production ability. Despite the drama, the single itself is one of The Beach Boys' finest, with Kiss Me Baby from the Today! album as the flip side. Help Me Rhonda/Kiss Me Baby was released nearly three months before the Summer Days (and Summer Nights) album debut on June 28, 1965, and served as somewhat of a final highlight of Today, and early preview of Summer Days.
What on the surface appeared to be another "Sun and Fun" themed album also held a number of strong feelings for Brian about his family that he cloaked in either humor or girl/guy lyrical content so as not to have his true feelings be known to his listeners. Brian had a great deal of love for his mother and conflicted feelings for his father, who he loved but also feared. His father seemed to be someone who was very capable of fighting for Brian, Carl, and Dennis when dealing with people business wise, yet was not very capable of encouraging them together or individually with respect to their music. Further complicating the sessions was the recent dismissal, and Murry's having had an affair outside of marriage resulting in acrimonious feelings with his wife and sons.
The Iconic Summer Days and Summer Nights Album Cover
There were a few indications of Brian's contemporary production and musical style influences in 1965 on Summer Days, with Brian again nodding to the Phil Spector production style through his recording of Then I Kissed Her. His admiration of The Beatles surfaced on Girl Don't Tell Me, and Let Him Run Wild showed affection for Burt Bacharach. The Four Freshman were referenced on two Summer Days sessions recordings, And Your Dream Comes True, and the unreleased studio version of Graduation Day. Many listeners also heard a Four Seasons influence on You're So Good to Me.
The first side of Summer Days rocked like no Beach Boys album since the early albums, with The Girl From New York City kicking off the first side. The song has a fine Mike Love lead vocal, with Bruce doing an excellent falsetto vocal above the group. The song is written about the late Lesley Gore, and offers a hint about the rest of the album's sounds. Amusement Parks USA is an early prototype of a Heroes and Villains type of production sound, and although somewhat silly lyrically, shows powerfully Brian's growth as a producer. The song paints a picture in sound, using sound effects creatively throughout the song, which was released in Japan as a single and went to number 3 on their charts.
Then I Kissed Her was released as a single everywhere but the USA while EMI/Capitol was awaiting the much publicized Heroes and Villains single in 1967, breaking a silence of six months on radio with no new Beach Boys single. The song is a reminder of Brian's love of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, and features an exceptionally wonderful Alan Jardine lead vocal. The Beach Boys played on this version. Salt Lake City was released as a single in 1965 to promote an event sponsored by the Salt Lake City Downtown Merchants Association. Pressed with a special yellow label and given out in a special envelope, today it is one of the most collectible Beach Boys records in the world. Only 1000 were made. The musical context of the tune is made more memorable by use of an organ as a percussion instrument. Mike Love's lead here is very well done.
Summer Days Photo Session Outtake
Girl Don't Tell Me has a strong John Lennon influence, and again shows how Brian had listened to and assimilated many of The Beatles' chord patterns and vocal inflections. This tune shows off Carl Wilson's love for The Beatles, and he carries off the lead vocal marvelously. Carl was probably The Beach Boys' most ardent Beatle fan, and had posters of their group on his bedroom wall during the initial British Invasion. Help Me Rhonda concludes side one of Summer Days, and is easily the equal of side one of The Beach Boys Today!, with new production techniques throughout, mainly due to Brian not having to tour.
The introduction to California Girls is iconic, and has been used by the group as an opening concert trademark for years due to the immediate recognition those heavenly chords generate. The track itself has some interesting jazzy discordant moments, and may be heard as a bonus selection on the two-for cd reissue that Capitol released that included Stack O Tracks. Let Him Run Wild is a letter-in-sound from Brian to Audree, his mother, upon learning that his father had had an affair. The lyrics reflected Brian's feelings at the time, and his commitment to his mom as oldest son was that he would look after her because his father wouldn't. The song swings in a jazzlike manner, and has an emotional lead vocal from Brian that would touch a listener even if he hummed it. Despite Brian's known dislike of his own lead vocal, Dennis Wilson believed this song to be emblematic of Brian's growth in the studio as a producer.
You're So Good To Me served as the 'B' side to the USA Sloop John B single in March 1966, and the bassline's chord structure holds some minor similarities to Salt Lake City in places. Mike's bass backing vocal on this tune is one of his finest, along with Brian's use of organ again as a rhythm instrument. The song is a regular on setlists of Brian's concerts throughout the last 15 years.
Summer Means New Love is a lovely but short instrumental that foreshadows Brian's work on Pet Sounds quite strongly. Strings add warmth to the lead guitar, which is tasteful and understated. The song is a nice tune in the genre that was probably begun by Theme From a Summer Place.
Summer Means New Love is a lovely but short instrumental that foreshadows Brian's work on Pet Sounds quite strongly. Strings add warmth to the lead guitar, which is tasteful and understated. The song is a nice tune in the genre that was probably begun by Theme From a Summer Place.
I'm Bugged At My Old Man is a Beach Boys Blues number, and while sung tongue-in-cheek, is Brian's way of telling his father that dad is out of control. There is a quality here that somewhat imparts a feeling of Brian saying "if you only knew what I am really doing...." Brian had begun a friendship with Lorren Daro, who was introducing him to recreational marijuana and LSD. Murry, who was somewhat inept regarding family relationships and their subtleties, probably never realized he was being mocked. And Your Dream Comes True is the perfect ending to a near perfect 1965 rock album, alluding to the idea of becoming an adult, being free, and having the chance to chase your dreams without interference from meddling elders.
Summer Days Cover Session Outtake
Like The Beach Boys Today!, and several other Brian Wilson produced albums from the Sixties, Summer Days (and Summer Nights) earned an RIAA Gold Record Award in 1965, and cemented The Beach Boys as the most consistent best selling American album group of that decade. As the second of a trio of very strong albums, omitting Beach Boys Party, the growth of the group as a musical juggernaut was very impressive.
The outtakes from the first half of 1965 are a mixed bag. EMI/Capitol have released an alternate version of Help Me Rhonda, as well as the lovely studio version of Graduation Day, along with a track with backing vocals done for Sandy/Sheri She Needs Me. A lead vocal was done by Brian in the 1976-77 period, with the vocal being somewhat raspy and out of place. The tune was recut in 1998 with new lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager. That version turned up by Brian on his Imagination solo album. Finally, an alternative version of Let Him Run Wild was also recorded, which, while quite engaging, was not as charming as the released version on Summer Days. All of these recordings are insightful for the listener, in that many of the versions are more busy and ornate than the versions on Summer Days.
Brian's internal intuition seems to have guided him throughout the time he produced The Beach Boys to keep things simple sounding, even if they are really quite involved and complex. It is those very instincts that bring new listeners into his orbit, generation by generation.
Brian's internal intuition seems to have guided him throughout the time he produced The Beach Boys to keep things simple sounding, even if they are really quite involved and complex. It is those very instincts that bring new listeners into his orbit, generation by generation.
Text copyright 2015 by Peter Reum-All Rights Reserved
Smiley Smile: The Little Album That Could by Peter Reum
Whereas Smile was ornate, broad brushed Baroque Rock Opera bathed in Americana and Elemental Mythology....Smiley Smile was a Zen Koan, a riddle, Minimalist in its approach, full of intuitive cues that were at once humorous, eerie, silly, and unexpected. To illustrate, some of the chants, spoofs, and some of the Van Dyke Parks written lyrics were retained for Smiley Smile, and others were shelved for future use. The influence of the shelving of Smile cannot be understated with respect to the minimalist approach on Smiley Smile. In a 1983 comprehensive interview with Geoffrey Himes, Carl Wilson reaffirmed the exhaustion and feelings of ambivalence Brian had after he ceased recording Smile. There is an observation by Carl in that interview that had The Beach Boys not understood Brian's state of mind after canning Smile, that "we might have lost him for good." It appeared to several observers at the time that the failure of Heroes and Villains to enter the top ten singles charts across the country drove Brian further into self-doubt and fear, leading to sparse home brewed recordings in 1967. It is also likely that Brian's compulsive shuffling of recorded bits for Heroes and Villains led him to rewind his approach to studio recording, resulting in the homemade, subtle approach to Smiley Smile. In an interview that this author did with engineer Jim Lockert prior to his passing away, Lockert observed that Brian suspected several groups of spying on the Smile Sessions, with Brian then assembling Smiley Smile from five modular taped recordings into a finished album, thereby ensuring Smiley Smile's sound would not be copied by competing groups. In that sense, Smiley Smile was the first completed modular production approach album which was successfully assembled and then released in rock.
Author and musical analyst Daniel Harrison in a 1997 chapter in a book about musical structure made a crucial point that given the approach Brian took to Smiley Smile, it could not be regarded as a piece of art that could be compared to their albums of the late Sixties, and to compare it to those works does a disservice to Brian and his creativity. In a separate interview with Tom Nolan from a 1971 two part Rolling Stone article on The Beach Boys and Brian, fellow producer Terry Melcher makes two critical observations about the era of Smiley Smile. First, he recounts a story in which Brian and his friends formed a line of cars that went to a radio station in Los Angeles to offer that station the debut broadcast on radio of Heroes and Villains. The midnight disc jockey, not sure what to do, turned Brian down at first, then called his supervisor who screamed "put it on, you idiot!!!" Melcher goes on to say that the experience of not initially playing Heroes "killed Brian....it was like someone kicked him in the stomach and deflated him." With distance and perspective, it appears to this writer that whatever self-confidence Brian had regarding his songs being commercial disappeared forever. Later on, in 1975, Bruce Johnston and Terry Melcher signed an agreement with Brian to produce 15 sides for their Equinox Records label. Both men remarked in separate interviews that Brian was loathe to touch the mixing board, and thereby could not meet the requirements of his Equinox contract. Terry Melcher remarked that "they ought to give Brian a grant to be able to write and record whatever he wants without any expectations so he could follow his own muse." The simple fact is that Brian's commercial instincts ebbed after Smiley Smile, partially due to his internal voices, partially due to his refusal to step on the commercial recording treadmill again, and partially due to his inability to produce artists on Brother Records, and his own doubts about his ability to produce hit records.
None of the factors cited above in any way diminish the beautiful simplicity of Smiley Smile. The creative heart of Smiley Smile is the non-verbal musical humor embedded in the tunes. When Carl Wilson called Smiley Smile "an album for Brian to cool out by," it was hard to imagine the levels of exhaustion and cross-talk that Brian was experiencing in his brain. The stark beauty of Smiley Smile, the subtle and idiosyncratic humor therein, and the overcoming of true and abject fear that Brian experienced because of the hostile voices he was hearing gave birth to Smiley Smile, but for Brian, the creative load was no longer bearable. The phrase "Produced by Brian Wilson" did not appear as a complete album credit until 15 Big Ones, recorded almost 10 years after Smiley Smile.
Here is a revised section on Brian's use of humor in recording partially taken from my article entitled Light the Lamp, with new material included, which I first wrote with the goal of searching for the sources of Brian's musically humorous approaches and expressions:
...So we begin our search for Brian Wilson's laughin' place....We know that Brian valued humor as a child and as a young adult from anecdotal evidence from childhood friends and The Wilson Brothers' own stories of his antics at home in Hawthorne, at school, later on the road, or in the studio. We also see that the albums we have enjoyed through the years have all had differing types of humor that evolved and changed as Brian grew older, became more worldly, and was more responsible for his extended family.
Brian
also is highly interested in the use of visual humor, and began to
utilize pratfalls, camera tricks, absurdity, and even Three Stooges gags
to illustrate his music beginning with Pet Sounds. We see Brian, in the
Sloop John B promotional film greeting what we assume to be Brian, only
to have the unseen person turn around and be Carl. They all carry a
life raft into a swimming pool, then proceed to swamp it, turning it
over and falling into the pool. In the Good Vibrations Promotional Film,
several Beach Boys slide up a fire station pole after sliding down. In
another Pet Sounds Promotional film, Brian employs the use of masks to
create a surreal atmosphere involving confused identities. These ideas,
had they been further developed in Smile, would have likely resulted in
some ground breaking performance art comedies of the type later used on
MTV. There were discussions of a complete album related to comedy with
accompanying visuals. Instead, Brian's incorporation of humor into
Smiley Smile was primarily expressed in sound, which helps distinguish
the overall difference of Smiley Smile from Smile.
Smiley Smile: The Little Album That Could by Peter Reum
The
effort to assemble the Smile album was effectively tabled by Brian
Wilson in late December 1966, when he was told by David Anderle that a
new single was overdue. In Paul Williams pioneering rock journal, Crawdaddy,
Anderle said telling Brian that a single was overdue was the hardest
thing he had to do while at Brother Records. Brian, who had Smile
roughly 75% complete, had to shelf the album in favor of working on a
new single.
In
a frantic manner, in the winter of 1967, Brian recorded several
segments of Heroes and Villains, shuffling the segments in a manner that
seemed unfocused. In several subsequent interviews through the years
concerning why Smile was shelved, Brian attributed his difficulty in
finishing Smile to losing his focus and perspective. As time marched
into late Spring 1967, Brian's inactivity spoke volumes about his
exhaustion and mental health's deterioration. March 1967 was consumed
with a lawsuit stating Capitol Records owed Brother Records a substantal
amount of money for unpaid royalties due to an outdated policy Capitol
used in the 1940s to charge off to artists' 78 rpm records that broke in
shipment.
In
April 1967, Brian set Heroes and Villains aside like he did Smile, and
began work on a new single--Vegetables. Nearly all of his studio time in
April was concerned with Vegetables. In effect, both Smile and the first single, Heroes and Villains, from the album were set aside.
Brian,
exhausted from 6 years of hectic work as a songwriter and producer, had
a nervous collapse, which led to him telling the Beach Boys that he
wanted more involvement from the group in studio work, and that he
needed the guys in The Beach Boys to take over production of future
singles and albums, because he needed to rest following his nervous
collapse in May 1967. A quote from Carl Wilson regarding Brian's
emotional frailty during and after this breakdown intimated that had
the group pushed Brian during his collapse to produce the single and
album, they might have never gotten Brian to do any future work for the
Beach Boys. In June 1967, The Beach Boys, with Brian and Carl Wilson
co-producing, used both Wally Heider's Studio 3 and Brian's Home
Studio, still a makeshift studio under construction, to record this most
eccentric of Brian's albums with The Beach Boys. The use of Brian's
home studio had to accommodate use of the mixing board on Beach Boys
Tours in the late Sixties.
Smiley Smile was recorded in very primitive conditions, partly in Brian's new home studio, and it tends to show. Nevertheless, it has some great innovation. Coming on the heels of the Derek Taylor Smile
publicity horse opera, it was probably commercially doomed from the
start. Smiley Smile is the antithesis of what Smile was promoted by
Taylor to be.
Whereas Smile was ornate, broad brushed Baroque Rock Opera bathed in Americana and Elemental Mythology....Smiley Smile was a Zen Koan, a riddle, Minimalist in its approach, full of intuitive cues that were at once humorous, eerie, silly, and unexpected. To illustrate, some of the chants, spoofs, and some of the Van Dyke Parks written lyrics were retained for Smiley Smile, and others were shelved for future use. The influence of the shelving of Smile cannot be understated with respect to the minimalist approach on Smiley Smile. In a 1983 comprehensive interview with Geoffrey Himes, Carl Wilson reaffirmed the exhaustion and feelings of ambivalence Brian had after he ceased recording Smile. There is an observation by Carl in that interview that had The Beach Boys not understood Brian's state of mind after canning Smile, that "we might have lost him for good." It appeared to several observers at the time that the failure of Heroes and Villains to enter the top ten singles charts across the country drove Brian further into self-doubt and fear, leading to sparse home brewed recordings in 1967. It is also likely that Brian's compulsive shuffling of recorded bits for Heroes and Villains led him to rewind his approach to studio recording, resulting in the homemade, subtle approach to Smiley Smile. In an interview that this author did with engineer Jim Lockert prior to his passing away, Lockert observed that Brian suspected several groups of spying on the Smile Sessions, with Brian then assembling Smiley Smile from five modular taped recordings into a finished album, thereby ensuring Smiley Smile's sound would not be copied by competing groups. In that sense, Smiley Smile was the first completed modular production approach album which was successfully assembled and then released in rock.
Author and musical analyst Daniel Harrison in a 1997 chapter in a book about musical structure made a crucial point that given the approach Brian took to Smiley Smile, it could not be regarded as a piece of art that could be compared to their albums of the late Sixties, and to compare it to those works does a disservice to Brian and his creativity. In a separate interview with Tom Nolan from a 1971 two part Rolling Stone article on The Beach Boys and Brian, fellow producer Terry Melcher makes two critical observations about the era of Smiley Smile. First, he recounts a story in which Brian and his friends formed a line of cars that went to a radio station in Los Angeles to offer that station the debut broadcast on radio of Heroes and Villains. The midnight disc jockey, not sure what to do, turned Brian down at first, then called his supervisor who screamed "put it on, you idiot!!!" Melcher goes on to say that the experience of not initially playing Heroes "killed Brian....it was like someone kicked him in the stomach and deflated him." With distance and perspective, it appears to this writer that whatever self-confidence Brian had regarding his songs being commercial disappeared forever. Later on, in 1975, Bruce Johnston and Terry Melcher signed an agreement with Brian to produce 15 sides for their Equinox Records label. Both men remarked in separate interviews that Brian was loathe to touch the mixing board, and thereby could not meet the requirements of his Equinox contract. Terry Melcher remarked that "they ought to give Brian a grant to be able to write and record whatever he wants without any expectations so he could follow his own muse." The simple fact is that Brian's commercial instincts ebbed after Smiley Smile, partially due to his internal voices, partially due to his refusal to step on the commercial recording treadmill again, and partially due to his inability to produce artists on Brother Records, and his own doubts about his ability to produce hit records.
None of the factors cited above in any way diminish the beautiful simplicity of Smiley Smile. The creative heart of Smiley Smile is the non-verbal musical humor embedded in the tunes. When Carl Wilson called Smiley Smile "an album for Brian to cool out by," it was hard to imagine the levels of exhaustion and cross-talk that Brian was experiencing in his brain. The stark beauty of Smiley Smile, the subtle and idiosyncratic humor therein, and the overcoming of true and abject fear that Brian experienced because of the hostile voices he was hearing gave birth to Smiley Smile, but for Brian, the creative load was no longer bearable. The phrase "Produced by Brian Wilson" did not appear as a complete album credit until 15 Big Ones, recorded almost 10 years after Smiley Smile.
Here is a revised section on Brian's use of humor in recording partially taken from my article entitled Light the Lamp, with new material included, which I first wrote with the goal of searching for the sources of Brian's musically humorous approaches and expressions:
...So we begin our search for Brian Wilson's laughin' place....We know that Brian valued humor as a child and as a young adult from anecdotal evidence from childhood friends and The Wilson Brothers' own stories of his antics at home in Hawthorne, at school, later on the road, or in the studio. We also see that the albums we have enjoyed through the years have all had differing types of humor that evolved and changed as Brian grew older, became more worldly, and was more responsible for his extended family.
If
we accept the definition of humor as outlined by Steven Sultanoff,
Ph.D. from a well done 1997 article at the American Academy of
Therapeutic Humor website entitled "What is Humor?", we find a
definition in several parts. First, Dr. Sultanoff makes the point that "one way to experience humor is to experience incongruity in a familiar situation." Musically, this could be as complex as a song with a paradoxical twist at the end of it, a musical unexpected moment, or simply a picture of people that does not fit with standard behavior. An
example of a musical punchline almost approaching a Zen koan in its
emotional suddenness is the version of Wind Chimes on Smiley Smile.
We are lulled into somnambulence listening to our wind chimes, almost to
the point of total relaxation. If Brian were to loop the singing, it
would surely have the quality of reducing distances between people.
For Brian, humor was one way for a very shy and gifted teenager who was
always on the edge of several social circles to be able to be accepted.
This is well documented by David Leaf in his interviews with Rich
Sloane and other high school friends of Brian's. A high school
friend of Brian's tells the story of Brian's high school graduation,
where Brian asked several friends to limp across the stage to get their
diplomas. He told each person "everyone is doing it." Second, in
the end, only Brian decided to limp. What would motivate Brian to do
this?" The most likely answer is that Brian wanted to do something funny
that would make the gesture by Brian the most memorable event at
graduation.
Using Dr. Sultanoff's definition, the third purpose for humor is to dispel anger.
In Brian's chaotic, abusive, alcoholic home, the major emotion he
witnessed was anger. His father's volcanic temper could be tamed by two
of Brian's gifts, music and humor. Brian used one or the other as often
as he could in order to lighten the emotional tension in his mom and
brothers' lives. There are several interviews with Brian, Dennis, and
Carl which mention Brian telling funny jokes or singing songs to reduce
the anger and fear that the boys routinely experienced and its
consequential anxiety, which was always at a high level throughout their
childhood. In this sense, we can attribute to humor a third and
critical purpose for Brian, which was to alleviate anger, depression,
and to reduce stress generated anxiety.
Another notorious part of Brian's sense of humor is the "put on."
Even his best friends report difficulty determining at times whether
the answers they are getting in conversations they have with him are
complete fabrications or on the level. Don Was tells the story of asking
Brian how he wrote Til' I Die during the I Just Wasn't Made for There
Times Film. Brian replied by telling Don that he was trying to compose a
song by "only playing the black keys." Don admits not knowing whether
Brian's reply was true, or "Brian was just entertaining me."
Dr. Sultanoff mentions a fourth purpose of humor as deflating or ridiculing the seriousness of a highly important topic. The song She's Going Bald is an example of this form of humor. The song begins with a modified Brazilian jazz sound, with the topic of going bald being probably one of the worst problems a woman who values her appearance can have happen to her. Derived from a brief fragment in the Smile Session known as "He Gives Speeches," Mike Love added some lyrics that amplified the absurdity of the song. The sarcastic and angry tone of He Gives Speeches was altered to emphasize silliness instead of a more critical and sarcastic focus. One of the brilliant musical touches of humor Brian employed was to alter the vocals of part of the song using an Eltro Information Rate Changer. The Fifties tune "Get a Job" is quoted, only adding to the absurdity of the tune. The third part of the song mocks the urgent nature of the problem, a woman going bald. Finally, the call and response section of the tune's end, quoting a Fifties Rhythm and Blues type of singing breaks the news to the woman...."You're Too Late Mama, Ain't Nothin' Upside Your Head No more, No More, No More...."
Another purpose of Brian's Smiley Smile humor is to dispel feelings of fear or being scared. Fall Breaks and Back to Winter (Woody Woodpecker Symphony) uses the same chord progression as Mrs. O'Leary's Cow from Smile. Brian, quoted in an interview about Smile, remarks that the ominous chord progression from Mrs. O'Leary's Cow did not have to be a "big and frightening tune." Instead, he states that Fall Breaks and Back to Winter can be a "candle" instead of a "big scary fire."
The rest of the tunes on Smiley Smile can be placed in one or more of Dr. Sultanoff's purposes for humor. Smiley Smile's version of Wonderful, unlike the almost chamber music tone of the Smile version, is presented with an unusual spoken word bridge that is humorous instead. The song's bridge is somewhat discordant, lending an almost "musique concrete" feel to the song. The overall impression one takes away from repeated listens is an almost bemused wonder, bringing out the subtle smile the album's title evokes. The same feeling is generated by Little Pad and Whistle In, two modified "chants" which parallel some of Brian's work on Smile. Both tunes are repetitive. Whistle In simply repeats the phrase "Remember the day, remember the night, all day long...Whistle In." Little Pad is a little more developed, but still has the feeling of a Smile type of chant that has been modified to offer a feeling of living a more simplified life in Hawaii. The overall feel is a wistful type of happiness, as the listener places himself or herself in the vocalist's place.
A promotional album from the Smiley Smile period released by Capitol has an interview with Brian about the song With Me Tonight, in which Brian is asked why there is a loud "GOOD!!!" included in the otherwise hypnotic sounds of the song. Brian responds by saying "oh that was Arny Geller, and we liked how it sounded so we just left it in." This almost Zen acceptance of what could have been considered a blown take of the song again illustrates the whimsy and humorous attitude Brian and The Beach Boys took in recording Smiley Smile. Brian instinctively understood the necessity of humor in his childhood to distract his younger brothers from the fury of Murry Wilson's outbursts of rage. Humor became a prime coping method for Brian to be able to laugh off the fear of his father when intoxicated, which in turn was also protective of his younger brothers using distraction to dispel their fear as well.
Gettin' Hungry is the first tune written by Brian and Mike Love with Brian fulfilling his promise to write an album's worth of songs with Mike. This promise was made just before recording Pet Sounds, and the Smile Sessions using Van Dyke Parks as lyricist delayed the keeping of that promise, with Mike possibly feeling cast aside. Brian, deciding to keep his promise to Mike, wrote Getting Hungry with Mike, and this second single from Smiley Smile was not released as a Beach Boys song, but as performed by Brian Wilson and Mike Love. Gettin' Hungry was a hit in some parts of the world, but not in the USA. The organ and other instruments in the song are more Rhythm and Blues in tone, making it sound more like a Wild Honey tune than a Smiley Smile track. It may have fit better there.
Vegetables is a song that makes fun of, yet promotes the dietary benefits of eating vegetables and fruit. The Los Angeles region of California has historically been obsessed with being healthy and trying to maintain a youthful appearance for as long as possible. Brian toyed with exercising and maintaining a healthy diet, but did not maintain a consistent approach. A few years later, Brian's Radiant Radish health food store graced the Hollywood area for roughly a year. The reversed laughs in the tag of Vegetables are from the Smile version.
For Brian, humor is indeed a gift from God. He has been quoted repeating that idea in several interviews down the years. For him, the good feelings and relief that came from being funny and getting laughs generated from brothers and friends were a lifesaver. Dr. Sultanoff mentions in his article that as anxiety increases, a person's ability to maintain healthy self-esteem, realistic self-perspective, and ultimately, sanity, decreases. He mentions that the effect that is commonly seen therapeutically is that "without humor, peoples' thoughts become increasingly stuck and narrowly focused." That phenomenon is one of the primary reasons Brian stopped working on Smile.
Brian got a form of emotional release from crippling social anxiety and humorous relief from seeing conflict. He scripted a scene at a rehearsal for Heroes and Villains after the 1967 Hawaiian Live Concerts in which Mike Love actually reads a Brian authored script making fun of Brian for having a less successful sales result with the Heroes and Villains single than anticipated. Brian is making fun of Mike making fun of Brian and Van Dyke's art during Smile's recording several months beforehand. There is a complex form of humor which is a form of payback for Mike's discomfort with Van Dyke Park's lyrics for Smile, yet Brian is also ridiculing himself for thinking that Smile would be accepted by the group as a Beach Boys album. Self-deprecation is a major form of expression of humor that Brian finds funny.
If we carefully listen to Brian's humorous songs. we have a window into his feelings. For Brian, humor was the safe outlet to express the anger and hostility he felt for the wrongs that life had dealt him as a child and young adult. The Cassius Love vs. Sonny Wilson script is one written mostly by Brian on Shut Down Volume 2, and reflects some of the frustration Brian felt with his relationship with his cousin, but more importantly, his father, Murry. We see that Brian found humor in replaying the arguments of his childhood in his art. The famous story about Brian wanting to have his Smile era pals go out and provoke a bar fight to be tape recorded for Smile was serious. There is also Brian's skit from April 1967 which has Hal Blaine (imitating Murry) arguing with Dennis about whether Dennis can have some Vegetables because he is hungry. Hal says "get outta here you punk, and take your dog with you!" Does anyone else catch the similarity to the lines of a certain witch in the Wizard of Oz?
Dr. Sultanoff mentions a fourth purpose of humor as deflating or ridiculing the seriousness of a highly important topic. The song She's Going Bald is an example of this form of humor. The song begins with a modified Brazilian jazz sound, with the topic of going bald being probably one of the worst problems a woman who values her appearance can have happen to her. Derived from a brief fragment in the Smile Session known as "He Gives Speeches," Mike Love added some lyrics that amplified the absurdity of the song. The sarcastic and angry tone of He Gives Speeches was altered to emphasize silliness instead of a more critical and sarcastic focus. One of the brilliant musical touches of humor Brian employed was to alter the vocals of part of the song using an Eltro Information Rate Changer. The Fifties tune "Get a Job" is quoted, only adding to the absurdity of the tune. The third part of the song mocks the urgent nature of the problem, a woman going bald. Finally, the call and response section of the tune's end, quoting a Fifties Rhythm and Blues type of singing breaks the news to the woman...."You're Too Late Mama, Ain't Nothin' Upside Your Head No more, No More, No More...."
Another purpose of Brian's Smiley Smile humor is to dispel feelings of fear or being scared. Fall Breaks and Back to Winter (Woody Woodpecker Symphony) uses the same chord progression as Mrs. O'Leary's Cow from Smile. Brian, quoted in an interview about Smile, remarks that the ominous chord progression from Mrs. O'Leary's Cow did not have to be a "big and frightening tune." Instead, he states that Fall Breaks and Back to Winter can be a "candle" instead of a "big scary fire."
The rest of the tunes on Smiley Smile can be placed in one or more of Dr. Sultanoff's purposes for humor. Smiley Smile's version of Wonderful, unlike the almost chamber music tone of the Smile version, is presented with an unusual spoken word bridge that is humorous instead. The song's bridge is somewhat discordant, lending an almost "musique concrete" feel to the song. The overall impression one takes away from repeated listens is an almost bemused wonder, bringing out the subtle smile the album's title evokes. The same feeling is generated by Little Pad and Whistle In, two modified "chants" which parallel some of Brian's work on Smile. Both tunes are repetitive. Whistle In simply repeats the phrase "Remember the day, remember the night, all day long...Whistle In." Little Pad is a little more developed, but still has the feeling of a Smile type of chant that has been modified to offer a feeling of living a more simplified life in Hawaii. The overall feel is a wistful type of happiness, as the listener places himself or herself in the vocalist's place.
A promotional album from the Smiley Smile period released by Capitol has an interview with Brian about the song With Me Tonight, in which Brian is asked why there is a loud "GOOD!!!" included in the otherwise hypnotic sounds of the song. Brian responds by saying "oh that was Arny Geller, and we liked how it sounded so we just left it in." This almost Zen acceptance of what could have been considered a blown take of the song again illustrates the whimsy and humorous attitude Brian and The Beach Boys took in recording Smiley Smile. Brian instinctively understood the necessity of humor in his childhood to distract his younger brothers from the fury of Murry Wilson's outbursts of rage. Humor became a prime coping method for Brian to be able to laugh off the fear of his father when intoxicated, which in turn was also protective of his younger brothers using distraction to dispel their fear as well.
Gettin' Hungry is the first tune written by Brian and Mike Love with Brian fulfilling his promise to write an album's worth of songs with Mike. This promise was made just before recording Pet Sounds, and the Smile Sessions using Van Dyke Parks as lyricist delayed the keeping of that promise, with Mike possibly feeling cast aside. Brian, deciding to keep his promise to Mike, wrote Getting Hungry with Mike, and this second single from Smiley Smile was not released as a Beach Boys song, but as performed by Brian Wilson and Mike Love. Gettin' Hungry was a hit in some parts of the world, but not in the USA. The organ and other instruments in the song are more Rhythm and Blues in tone, making it sound more like a Wild Honey tune than a Smiley Smile track. It may have fit better there.
Vegetables is a song that makes fun of, yet promotes the dietary benefits of eating vegetables and fruit. The Los Angeles region of California has historically been obsessed with being healthy and trying to maintain a youthful appearance for as long as possible. Brian toyed with exercising and maintaining a healthy diet, but did not maintain a consistent approach. A few years later, Brian's Radiant Radish health food store graced the Hollywood area for roughly a year. The reversed laughs in the tag of Vegetables are from the Smile version.
For Brian, humor is indeed a gift from God. He has been quoted repeating that idea in several interviews down the years. For him, the good feelings and relief that came from being funny and getting laughs generated from brothers and friends were a lifesaver. Dr. Sultanoff mentions in his article that as anxiety increases, a person's ability to maintain healthy self-esteem, realistic self-perspective, and ultimately, sanity, decreases. He mentions that the effect that is commonly seen therapeutically is that "without humor, peoples' thoughts become increasingly stuck and narrowly focused." That phenomenon is one of the primary reasons Brian stopped working on Smile.
Brian got a form of emotional release from crippling social anxiety and humorous relief from seeing conflict. He scripted a scene at a rehearsal for Heroes and Villains after the 1967 Hawaiian Live Concerts in which Mike Love actually reads a Brian authored script making fun of Brian for having a less successful sales result with the Heroes and Villains single than anticipated. Brian is making fun of Mike making fun of Brian and Van Dyke's art during Smile's recording several months beforehand. There is a complex form of humor which is a form of payback for Mike's discomfort with Van Dyke Park's lyrics for Smile, yet Brian is also ridiculing himself for thinking that Smile would be accepted by the group as a Beach Boys album. Self-deprecation is a major form of expression of humor that Brian finds funny.
If we carefully listen to Brian's humorous songs. we have a window into his feelings. For Brian, humor was the safe outlet to express the anger and hostility he felt for the wrongs that life had dealt him as a child and young adult. The Cassius Love vs. Sonny Wilson script is one written mostly by Brian on Shut Down Volume 2, and reflects some of the frustration Brian felt with his relationship with his cousin, but more importantly, his father, Murry. We see that Brian found humor in replaying the arguments of his childhood in his art. The famous story about Brian wanting to have his Smile era pals go out and provoke a bar fight to be tape recorded for Smile was serious. There is also Brian's skit from April 1967 which has Hal Blaine (imitating Murry) arguing with Dennis about whether Dennis can have some Vegetables because he is hungry. Hal says "get outta here you punk, and take your dog with you!" Does anyone else catch the similarity to the lines of a certain witch in the Wizard of Oz?
Above,
in this article, we asked what Brian finds funny, and why he might limp
across the stage at his high school graduation. One answer is that
Brian finds the opportunity to sneakily get back at those who he
perceives as hurting him as funny, and the actual act of doing so
hilarious. To limp across the stage at his high school graduation was to
say to his tyrannical father, "Hah! you won't be able to tell me what
to do much longer, because I'm going to be my own boss. Screw you for
wanting this to be a dignified occasion!" Brian finds humor in being
able to put one over on people he considers intrusive, rude, pushy, or
as bullies.
Perhaps
the ultimate expression of what Brian finds funny is his complex, yet
hilarious send up of himself and his father regarding the ongoing and
terribly damaging conflict in their relationship in I'm Bugged At My Old
Man on Summer Days. The absurdity of a millionaire Beverly Hills
musician singing 12 bar blues about having his phone ripped out of the
wall and having boards tacked up on the windows, while "dad is out there
eating steak" is brilliant, and went over everyone's heads in 1965.
This is a valid yet hysterically funny expression of Brian's incredible
anger at his dad for all that had happened in his life, most recently
his dad's infidelity to his mom, which also spawned the more emotionally
wrenching Let Him Run Wild, also on Summer Days.
Returning to the subject of therapeutic humor, Dr. Sultanoff's article points out that humor
is a highly idiosyncratic experience which is unique to each human
being. We are left to wonder what else Brian himself finds humorous. His
use of humor in his music has had the effect of bringing him and his
fans together. This phenomenon has been substantiated by several
researchers in the field of humor. What we subjectively find funny
is something that Brian intuitively grasped from the very first Beach
Boy album, with its self-deprecating descriptions of the five band
members in the song Chug-a Lug. Brian realized that in order to
connect with his audience, he had to share humor with them in such a
manner that they could find a universally common frame of reference in
his music. The audience can picture themselves in The Beach Boys'
place in Chug-a-Lug. His music transcended its immediate California
locale to become something even teenagers in landlocked states and
frosty foreign countries could understand. Humor
in Brian's music had the quality of replacing mundane feelings of life
with pleasurable experiences that everyone could feel were honest and
truthful.
According to humor researchers, we experience humor in three ways...through our intellect, emotions, and physiology.
Brian's music primarily connected with us emotionally in the early
years. We felt the honesty in his records, and how they reflected our
experiences in life. Smiley Smile began a shift from emotional humor,
often called mirth, to cognitive humor, called wit.
Brian
had been influenced by the creative use of humor in the work of Jan
Berry throughout his career, and at the same time Pet Sounds had been
recorded, Jan had issued an album designed to piggyback the mid Sixties
Batman television show craze. Undoubtedly, Brian admired Jan's ability
to express humor on Jan & Dean records dating back to Schlock Rod
Parts 1 & 2 on their Drag City album. Brian heard the Jan & Dean
Meet Batman Album, and decided perhaps there were some ideas to develop
there on Smile. By the time of Smile's distillation into Smiley Smile,
humor was the central motif presented.
During
the Smile Sessions, Brian had the advantage of working for the first
time with a musician whose abilities equaled his own. Van Dyke Parks
brought a literate sense of word play in the writing of lyrics,
hearkening back to the 1930s and 40s in American popular music when
brilliant songwriters like Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and
the Gershwin Brothers dominated music with snappy wit and beautiful
melodies. If Brian were aiming for a new American Musical Style, he had
found his match.
Parks'
lyrics presented the listener with the challenge of deciding whether to
take them somewhat literally or at levels of deeper meaning. There are
multiple options for interpretation in each tune, and the lyrics to
songs such as Heroes and Villains and Wonderful offer puns double
entendres, and whimsy, often quoting other American classics and
favorite children's songs. Brian's musical tracks continued to connect
on an emotional basis. What is fascinating is that for the first time ,
we consistently experience a multi-modal attack using humor on Smiley
Smile. In Vegetables, for example, we hear funny pouring sound effects
while listening to puns and whimsical lyrics at the same time. In
Wonderful, the lyrics we hear are those that remind us of archetypal
images from fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood. In Heroes and
Villains, the picture of Bugs Bunny and his ongoing battles with
Yosemite Sam in the Old West emerge, while also referencing a rooster's
call in the lyric "what a dude'll do in a town full of Heroes and
Villains.
It
is ironic that in the recording sessions for Smile from 1966, an album
that was intended to celebrate humor and its healing properties, caused
Brian to become so anxious and out of self-control that his ability to
see the big picture became narrower and narrower, to the point that he
believed that he had to scrap Smile to save his life, his sanity, and
his emotional balance and perspective. Brian instinctively drew back
from Smile, and shared what had become the overbearing burden of
creativity with his band mates. Together, in an environment of stoned
silliness, Brian shifted some of the burden of creativity to his
brothers, cousin, and friends, deciding to work on healing his fractured
psyche using the very human resilience that had preserved his human
resilience for a future he did not think was possible until the Post
Landy period of his life.
Smiley
Smile, as released in 1967, began to take on the added dimension of
highly pictorial musicak performance, giving we listeners the chance to
interpret some of the nuances heard in this 1966-67 recording. In Smiley
Smile, the intellectual and emotional connecting experience was turned
on its ear by the use of slapstick, a third approach to humor, evoking
deep laughter, the physiological component of humor. For the unprepared
listener in 1967, Derek Taylor's publicity campaign had created an
unprecedented anticipation for an American Rock album. Why did it leave
Brian emotionally spent? Brian lost the ability to find the humor in his
own Smile music, consumed with his rivalry with The Beatles. However,
in asking for the group's help on Smiley Smile, Brian was able to back
away from his work on Smile and to allow the other Beach Boys to
contribute in a fully creative manner, creating a multi-modal approach
that transcends his previous work by using and blending various types of
humor to create a new form of art. Dr. Sultanoff, in a 1994 article
entitled "Exploring the Land of Mirth and Funny" makes the following
important observation...."the fullest, and most powerful experience of
humor is one that is experienced with all three components (wit, mirth,
and laughter) simultaneously."
We
are left to wonder how Brian instinctively knew that his creative muse
would return by inviting his fellow Beach Boys to contribute to the
creation of Smiley Smile. For the close listener, the chance to
experience humor in all its forms awaits on Smiley Smile. Perhaps it is
the very resilience of Brian Wilson himself and his ability to see humor
in the most tragic of circumstances that enabled him to create an work
of art with his group that is so powerful that it meets we listeners on
all possible planes of human levity.
If resilience
is the ability of people to bounce back from the most deadening of
experiences in life, it is no coincidence that Smile would be the most
resilient of Brian Wilson musical works. We are left with a few thoughts from people about humor....
"Tragedy plus time equals humor." Carol Burnett
"Humor
is a great, the great thing, the saving thing, after all. The minute it
crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations and resentments
slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place." Mark Twain
"Humor is sacred, a gift from God." Brian Wilson
Dr. Sultanoff's ground breaking work may be found at his website: HumorMatters
Some Final Reflections on Smiley Smile:
Both
Smile and Smiley Smile were recorded using modular formatting, but
whereas Smile proved too complex to assemble, Smiley Smile was completed
in a roughly three week period, and recorded "dry" without echo.
Recorded in modular format and assembled in a final mix by Jim Lockert,
Bill Halverson, and Stephen Desper, it proved that the modular method of recording was not only feasible, but capable of being used for an entire album.
Brian's
self-preserving instincts seemed to tell him that if had kept up the
pace of the first 5 years, under Capitol Records contract, he would have
ended up either in a straight jacket or suicidal. In effect, Smiley
Smile was the first "therapeutic album" that Brian did, some 10 years
before 15 Big Ones, Adult Child, and Beach Boys Love You. Little did he realize that it would prove therapeutic for thousands of listeners as well. Carl
Wilson, in a number of interviews from the Seventies and Eighties,
often termed Smiley Smile "music for Brian to cool down/chill out while
recording." Smiley Smile was also seen as a "back to basics album" in
which Brian help produce but which other Beach Boys were expected to
contribute actively as well. In a late Sixties interview, Brian termed
Smile "music that was too personal to release."
Track by track:
Heroes and Villains
Undoubtedly
my favorite Beach Boy 45. Incredible in its power. An example of how
amazing the human voice can be used as an instrument. Had it been
released at another time, when art rock was more accepted, e.g. after
Hey Jude and MacArthur Park, it would have been a better seller. A
perfect marriage of music and lyrics, it was rock critic Paul Williams's
favorite single, and is mine as well. A wealth of ideas in roughly
three and a half minutes, and based on the River Deep Mountain High
baseline, it is the aural equivalent of a three ring circus, with so
much to hear that it reveals more upon each play. Recorded in small
sound snippets, Heroes was the single tune that proved hardest for Brian
to sequence and complete. He worked the equivalent studio time of
recording and sequencing for entire previousBeach Boys albums on the
Heroes and Villains single. From October 1967 until 1990, Brian refused
to sing Heroes and Villains in live concerts. Since 1990, it has become a
song Brian loves to sing with his incredible backing band.
Vegetables
This
should have been the second single off Smiley Smile, but got shunted
aside by group vote. A nice version, certainly commercial, with a catchy
tag. The reverse laughs at the end are a marvel of rock music singing.
The humor here is more subtle than on the Smile version. The heartbeat
bass, the sounds of juice being poured, the crunching and "mmmms", and
the break into a Stephen Foster bridge just before the end all add a
more subtle approach than one might expect.
Fall Breaks and Back to Winter (Woody Woodpecker Symphony)
Composed
during the Smile period after a camping trip to Redwood Country, it of
course contains the chord progression and vocals intended for Mrs.
O'Leary's Cow. I have always believed this piece was linked to Elements
in some manner. It has a similar chord progression to MOLC. In the true
stereo mix, it sounds quite spooky. The distorted bass vocal combined
with the various harmonicas make the tune at once gently mocking and
foreboding. The tone of the tune is reminiscent of death and decay,
with the promise of new life in the coming spring signified by the call
of the woodpecker. The tune has a way of reminding me of Randy Newman's classic song "Snow."
She's Going Bald
Credited
to Van Dyke as co-author, he can't remember writing it. It is possible
his credit was put on here as a practical joke. The dope influenced tape
effect and sophmoric lyrics are typical of Beach Boy humor of the time.
Probably as close to an obvious humor track on this album as exists.
Obviously derived from He Gives Speeches. Perhaps this is why it is
partially credited to Van Dyke. He Gives Speeches was targeted at Murry,
and it is likely that this reframing of the tune was Brian's way of not pulling the trigger in a negative manner and making fun of his father like he did on Summer Days.
Little Pad
This tune is a model of modular recording.
Using five recorded modules with two of them repeated, Brian schools
the group in how to assemble a full length tune. Great track, great
Hawaiian guitar effect, nice wordless singing section. Like many of
Brian's songs from here on out, an idea left incomplete. This one is an
obvious stoner tune. The song begins with a "Do it!", then proceeds to a
section shared by Mike's lead vocal, laughs, and kazoos. The Hawaiian
Guitar module kicks in at 16 seconds into the tune, then lasts for 23
seconds, followed by a finger snap, then roughly 20 seconds of ukelele,
then into Carl's second verse at 60 seconds, followed by a reprise of
the Hawaiian Guitar module for another 23 seconds, the ukelele section
with wordless vocals pops in for 20 more seconds, Brian comes back in
for a brief third verse, followed by the third reprise of the Hawaiian
Guitar segment to fade. The Hawaiian Guitar module is repeated three
times, and the ukelele section is repeated twice.
Good Vibrations
Probably
the Sloop John B of Smiley Smile. It doesn't fit with the rest of the
album, but probably was needed for sales of this album. In this
Minimalist context, it became more of a reminder of what was lost when
Smile was shelved, and in this sense, it became a cement overcoat when The Beach Boys were doing their best to tread water.
With Me Tonight
An
undeveloped tune based off a riff written during Smile. The weird
"good" that you hear about 30 seconds into the song is by Arny Geller. It is one of those little Brian surprise artifacts that make the album a Zen type of experience.
Better developed by Sandy Salisbury than by Brian himself. The
Salisbury version should have been a hit, but got buried on the Together
records label and disappeared.
Wind Chimes
Incredible
example of Brian's subtle use of humor in his music. Brilliantly
recorded and executed, perhaps the most influential Smiley Smile track
on other musicians. The whole tune is a prank, lulling the listener
into a near trance, then shocking one back to reality with an unexpected
fuzztone. If you were stoned listening to it, you'd be even more
shocked. I love the Yogi Bear sounding ting-a-ling by Mike twice toward
the end...more humor.
Gettin' Hungry
The
last track recorded for the album, and sonically closer to Wild Honey. A
departure from the rest of the album soundwise, it has a computer
sounding organ piece alternating with a breathy lead vocal from Mike.
Chosen to be the album's second single with the provision that it come
out as a Brian Wilson/Mike Love single. Gettin' Hungry was also a
gesture on Brian's part to make peace with a bruised Mike Love, who had
been told by Brian that there would only be one ornate "arty" album,
only to be put on hold for Smile. This song was chosen by Brian over Vegetables, which was the intended second single. A political "family peace" move.
Wonderful
A
dramatic departure from Brian's almost classical approach to this tune
for Smile, the track is riddled with sounds that play against each
other, such as a clarinet playing out of tune notes, the sounds of
children playing, and on the incredible bridge to the song, Brian
singing "cool it....just cool it" over against Carl saying "don't think
your God Vibrations will make it off the record." The bridge has been
cited by numerous choral composers as a radical use of the spoken
voice to make music. A minimalist tour de force, and certainly the most
radical of the innovations on an already innovative album.
Whistle In
The coda to the album....a fitting conclusion to an album so Minimalist, so subtle that it is missed by most who listen to it. Can you imagine the sound of one hand clapping????
Copyright 2017 by Peter Reum--All Rights Reserved
Despite
the avant-garde minimalist approach to recording Smiley Smile, sales of
the album in the United States did not come close to the anticipated
sales volume as projected by Capitol Records. The Smile period Brother
Records employees had jumped ship throughout the first half of 1967,
leaving a void that placed the business decisions for Brother Records
with The Beach Boys themselves without being able to bounce ideas off
Brother employees.
Contributing to the relative chaos that ensued after Smile was shelved, the legal discord between The Beach Boys and Capitol/EMI soured the company and The Beach Boys on trying to negotiate a new recording contract. The Heroes and Villains single rose to number 12 on the national music surveys, only to disappear much faster than previous Beach Boy hits. The disappointment of the group and Capitol in Smiley Smile led Capitol to suggest releasing Smile as an album with ten tracks following Smiley Smile.
Full Group Photo August 25, 1967 First Rehearsal for Hawaiian Concert
The Letter
You're So Good to Me
Help Me (You) Rhonda
California Girls
God Only Knows
Surfer Girl
Sloop John B
With a Little Help From My Friends
Barbara Ann
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Their Hearts Were Full of Spring
Good Vibrations
Text Copyright 2017 by Peter Reum
All Rights Reserved
Lei'd In Hawaii: The Further Cooling Out of Brian Wilson
by Peter Reum
Contributing to the relative chaos that ensued after Smile was shelved, the legal discord between The Beach Boys and Capitol/EMI soured the company and The Beach Boys on trying to negotiate a new recording contract. The Heroes and Villains single rose to number 12 on the national music surveys, only to disappear much faster than previous Beach Boy hits. The disappointment of the group and Capitol in Smiley Smile led Capitol to suggest releasing Smile as an album with ten tracks following Smiley Smile.
Jon Hunt's Brilliant Art Workup for an Imagined Lei'd In Hawaii Front Cover
Brian
Wilson's emotional stability was eroding. The rest of the Beach Boys
group were witnesses to his mental health unraveling. It was
evident that he had exhausted himself and had a nervous breakdown which
continued to manifest itself symptomatically through the summer and fall
of 1967, and winter of 1967/68. After the group submitted Smiley Smile
to Capitol, the Heroes and Villains single did not make the top ten
singles charts nationally. This was a severe disappointment to
Brian, and his exhaustion and deteriorating emotional state gave the
other Beach Boys some cause to take over the production duties faster
than they anticipated. Also complicating the situation was the group's
affection for mood altering chemicals, which at times clouded their
judgement regarding song selection in live performance and in selection
of newer tunes for future albums.
As was the group's
habit in the mid-Sixties, the group understood that the hype regarding
Smile and the incredible success of Good Vibrations worldwide, had made
their situation post-Smile being canned period seem like a broken wagon
wheel on Donner Pass in a snow storm.
Given the
numerous circumstances and the group's disaffection with Capitol, it is
quite possible that The Beach Boys began to see that their remaining
time on the contract with Capitol Records was best completed quickly,
perhaps giving the group a chance to seek a new beginning with another
record label. The decision to record Lei'd In Hawaii was one way to
partially fulfill the frequency of single and albums submissions to
Capitol Records more quickly, and also to conserve possible songs for a
post Capitol album.
The history of Beach Boy live
concerts in Honolulu, Hawaii was excellent historically for them, and
the opportunity to perform two shows on successive nights to promote
Smiley Smile was also attractive to the group. The shows would inject
needed income to Brother Records, at a time when the group's overall
Stateside concert revenue had not met the success of the group in Asia,
Australia, and Europe.
Lei'd In Hawaii Front and Back Covers-Spank Label Boot
The
concert venue, Honolulu's International Center, was sold out for both
nights-August 25 and 26, 1967. The five original Beach Boys made the
trip, sans Bruce Johnston. Bruce's reason for not coming was later
quoted that "it all got a little weird" with the Beach Boys. (Bellagio
10542-Andrew Doe, ESQuarterly.com) Given the recreational
pharmaceuticals the group used during the Smiley Smile sessions, perhaps
Bruce didn't want to imbibe, and bowed out gracefully. The Beach Boys
had previously headlined a KPOI show at the Center in 1964. As in
Europe, The Beach Boys were universally adored in Honolulu, having made
reference to Hawaii in a number of their recordings.
The
group had a rehearsal before the August 25th show, and it was taped. It
was clear that Brian was enchanted by the Baldwin Organ that had been
given to him as a gift by Murry Wilson. They began with a stunning
version of Their Hearts Were Full of Spring in a rehearsal for the first
night of the 1967 Honolulu shows displays Carl, Dennis, Mike, Al, and
Brian playing together in a manner that suggests that the group had not
played the material they were presenting enough to be their usual
seamless selves playing live. The group played a few tunes for the first
time live, such as Heroes and Villains, Gettin' Hungry, and the Box
Tops huge hit, The Letter. They also resurrected their first single 'A'
side-Surfin', which they indicated they wanted to play to observe their
fifth anniversary as a band. Brian's vocal presence was somewhat
scattered during the first show, as the Beach Boys had not had him along
for a show in roughly two and a half years. The screams of the doting
audience seemed to mess with his being able to hear the rest of the
group. He had brought his new Baldwin organ with him, electing not to
play bass as was his wont. Thus, Carl and Alan were shifted at times to
bass guitar, which was not their usual instrument. The shift in
assignments for the Hawaiian shows seems to have impacted the
effectiveness of the group playing live.
An Example of the "Tiki" Craze in the Sixties
Note the Name of the Club
After
the opening group for the first show, Paul Revere and the Raiders, the
Beach Boys took the stage.The group's first show had some unusual tunes
included. The vocals recorded for this show were muffled and at times
asynchronous. The audience was extremely enthusiastic, and did not care
whether the group was playing well or not on certain tunes. Girls would
scream loudly, as if The Beatles were playing instead of The Beach Boys.
It was very evident that the Hawaiian crowd was partial to The Beach
Boys. There were times when it sounded as if the Beach Boys were not
hearing each other well over the monitors. The concert opener, The
Letter, seemed to surprise the crowd, and the group played and sang it
well. The song "Hawaii" seemed to fire up the crowd, and they were
incredibly loud for the rest of the first show. The group did a nice, if
somewhat ragged version of You're So Good to Me next, with Brian's lead
vocal coming through clearly for part of the song and almost off mike
for other parts.
The crowd's enthusiasm was
undoubtedly energizing for The Beach Boys, with the screams from girls
in the audience being so loud that it distorted the group's mix coming
live from the monitors. There were mistakes made by the group, but crowd
enthusiasm was a needed and important factor in the group's ability to
calm nervous feelings and deliver a solid concert. A pair of songs that
were so-called "surf music" tunes followed. Surfer Girl was beautifully
sung by Brian despite the loudness of the crowd. The Beach Boys' first
single followed, which was pre-Capitol Records material. The first 'A'
side by the Beach Boys, Surfin', was rendered respectfully and loved by
the Hawaiian audience. The first live performance of the last tune cut
for Smiley Smile, Gettin' Hungry, was well performed by a nervous group
who wanted to sing the tune, but were not sure how well they would be
received playing it. The group's worries were allayed by the audience's
reception, which was very enthusiastic.
Double Exposure-Brian Wilson First Show Honolulu Hawaii
The Beach Boys at The Lagoon Salt Lake City Utah 1968
After
debuting Gettin' Hungry live, the group explained that the single's
performers on the Brother Records label were Brian Wilson and Mike Love.
A version of California Girls followed, with the introduction to the
song being a bit ragged, with the group relaxing into the tune's middle
and end, but being done more cleanly harmonically. Wouldn't It Be Nice
was the first of two Pet Sounds tunes done in this show. The tune
requires an almost athletic form of singing from the lead vocalist.
Brian had some hiccups in the tune, which was workmanlike, but not as
spectacular as the group's later performances through the years. Heroes
and Villains was next, with Brian performing a demanding lead vocal
clearly and in tune. The background vocals were still being worked out
as of this first Hawaiian Show, and there were a few glitches therein.
God Only Knows followed, with Carl delivering the lead vocal in a
manner that made this tune become a show stopper for him in later years.
Despite ridiculous crowd noise, the song kept its stately feeling and
was a highlight of this August 25th first show. Good Vibrations proved
to be the concert's finale, and with the group having had several months
to polish the performance of this intricate tune, Vibrations proved to
be a show stopper.
The encore, which was Barbara Ann,
was done in a light and faithful manner to the tune on the Capitol
single version, and this tune continues to be a concert closer fifty
years later. The concert MC informed the patrons of this show about the
next show on the 26th of August, and thanked the Beach Boys and the
crowd for a great show.
Native Pacific Islanders
Surfing Began With Them
On
August 26, Dino, Desi, and Billy opened for The Beach Boys. There is
some documentation extant that Bobbie Gentry also performed. The details
of her appearance, if any, are missing in historical accounts of the
shows. When the Beach Boys took the stage, crowd reaction was almost
worshipful, with attentive, rapt listening, and the occasional tween
screams. The song selections were fairly close to the previous night's
show, with a few songs that the group didn't play showing up in the set
list.
As in the August 25th first show, there were
songs a fan would not hear stateside. The instrumental tune called
Hawthorne Boulevard made its first and only appearance in a concert by
The Beach Boys. The Letter was moved into the next to last song in the
set. Hawaii was performed second in this concert. Another tune that got a
great audience reaction was when Alan Jardine did "Help You Rhonda"
reversing the lead for a woman who just broke up with her long term
boyfriend. Gettin' Hungry and Surfin' got positive crowd reactions.
Barbara Ann was added as an encore tune. The rest of the songs in this
show were identical to the August 25th first show.
One
of the most interesting accounts of these shows was by a Wally Heider
engineer who was retained by the Beach Boys for recording the two shows.
His name is Dale Manquen, and he was in his second year of sound
engineering when The Beach Boys flew him to Honolulu to be one of the
engineers for the two Beach Boys concerts. While some professional
engineers report having trouble getting paid for their recording work,
Mr. Manquen reports in his blog at the Wally Heider blog site that "at
least The Beach Boys knew how to treat a guy!"
Mr.
Manquen in his blog notes that Wally Heider Studio-Los Angeles brought
two eight track machines which were to be connected together to gain
maximum flexibility. There were technical problems, and Bill Halverson,
the chief engineer, asked Mr. Manquen to get things fixed, which
happened to finally get finished just as Paul Revere and the Raiders
finished their opening set.
In his conclusion to this
blog entry, Mr. Manquen makes some observations about The Beach Boys
performances. Regarding the quality of the tapes of the two shows he
says:" The Beach Boys were so stoned during their performances that I
don' t think any of the tracks we recorded were ever used."
Where the Boys Are-Waikiki Beach Mid Sixties
For
the Beach Boys, their time in Hawaii was again an opportunity to help
Brian's recovery from a major nervous collapse after shelving Smile.
Brian's trip to Hawaii was the last live performance until he filled in
for Mike Love until a trip with the Beach Boys in 1970 through the
United States Northwest. The same year he performed a show at the Roxy
in Los Angeles. He suffered terrible ear pain due to the loudness of the
band in that small venue. Film was shot of the Hawaiian trip after the
shows were done. Footage has appeared in several films through the
years, most notably Beach Boys-An American Band and Endless Harmony.
After
returning to California, The Beach Boys listened to the shows recorded
in Hawaii. They wisely determined that both shows were not of the
quality needed for release. Having spent a small fortune recording the
shows, the band decided to try rerecording the shows at Wally Heider
Studios in Los Angeles September 11, 1967, and in two dates at Brian's
home studio. They spent several hours recording a number of songs
performed at the Hawaiian shows. These included rehearsals for Surfin',
Surfer Girl, California Girls, Good Vibrations. There were new versions
of The Letter, Surfer Girl, You're So Good to Me, California Girls,
Help Me Rhonda, 6 takes of God Only Knows, and Heroes and Villains (with
Brian's send up on himself and Mike Love narrated by Mike over the
track to Heroes and Villains.
What
is left of these shows is probably what many Beach Boys concerts taped
in the early and mid Sixties sounded like. Even before Lei'd In Hawaii,
Brian had to remix, and occasionally replay tunes done in concert due to
crowd noise, vocal and instrument mistakes, and remote sound system
failures. Even today, the act of playing live is a huge task for many
rock and jazz bands. Is there enough material from Hawaii to issue a
live cd or digital recording of what is a very unusual time in live
Beach Boys Music? That Brian played both of these shows, despite his
mental health concerns, and sounded great on many tunes at a time when
touring was not something he usually did, is somewhat of a minor
miracle. The concerts were the only performance of a few of the songs
live, and the material is deserving of release for historical purposes,
as well as being the only live Brian shows between 1965 and 1970.
Regarding
the results of the taping of the two shows, the finishing of a final
product of the numerous efforts to assemble a record that satisfied The
Beach Boys and Capitol Records was not to be. There were sessions in
Wally Heider Studio-Los Angeles that were targeted to be used for
completing a record quickly that would start to get The Beach Boys
moving toward the timelines in their Capitol contract.
The
tape of the proposed album was roughly 90% complete, and had been mixed
to mono. Apparently, only crowd noises were needed to have a final
product. The unfinished tape was a 1/2 inch 4 track reel labeled "Hawaii
Concert." The mono tracks were left open to accommodate the addition of
crowd noise. The reel included You've Got to Hide Your Love Away and
Barbara Ann from the October 1966 concert tape from Ann Arbor. The
remaining tracks were from 1967. Most of the tracks used were from
studio work. The only song that proved to be from Hawaii was the lovely
Their Hearts Were Full of Spring from the September 25th rehearsal. For
some of the October 11th and undated Brian's Home Studio sessions,
there were two mixes of sessions tracks. It is unclear as to whether the
group was planning to select the best whole song take, or to merge the
best of two versions into one.
One unknown but
interesting fact is that the version of With a Little Help From My
Friends most likely cut at Brian's home studio was set for release on
Lei'd in Hawaii. It appears in the song list on the nearly completed
master tape. The full track lineup, as listed on the nearly finished
Lei'd In Hawaii album tape from the Brother Records Library is as
follows:
The Letter
You're So Good to Me
Help Me (You) Rhonda
California Girls
God Only Knows
Surfer Girl
Sloop John B
With a Little Help From My Friends
Barbara Ann
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Their Hearts Were Full of Spring
Good Vibrations
The
amount of recorded material post Smiley Smile and pre Wild Honey was
unusual in that Brian used his new organ on 11 of the tunes cut for
Lei'd In Hawaii songs on the nearly completed master tape. The reasons
for the canning of the album can only be guessed about. Perhaps the
group felt they needed a new studio album. Maybe the new Baldwin organ
sounded too strange. Or....it could be that costs were driving the album
too high at a time when the cash flow was tight.
There
was one other track recorded during this period, a live in the studio version of
Game of Love, a hit for Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders.
Text Copyright 2017 by Peter Reum
All Rights Reserved
Honey is Sweeter Than a Smile by Peter Reum
For the touring group, Brian's more complex music, such as Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations, was a major headache to perform live with just the touring group of 5 members. The group gave Brian that feedback during the latter days of the Smile Sessions, and it may have been a factor in his shelving that project.
Sometime between Brian's early attempts to produce the album, and Carl's stepping in to finish it, Wild Honey's focus took on a snappy Stax sound that baffled critics and long time fans. Brother 9003, the first "Wild Honey,' had some quite personal music of Brian's begun and then left behind. Wild Honey became an album different than perhaps what Brian originally conceived.
It is apparent that this aborted album, Brother 9003, was for the most part, an album about love and being in the cycle of a relationship. Consider that Wild Honey is a discussion of a woman who is viscerally attractive....a woman who turns you on. This feeling is also expressed in A Thing Or Two, Here Comes the Night, and I Was Made to Love Her. The invitation into a true sexual and emotional relationship may be expressed by The Game of Love. Love in full bloom, perhaps marriage, is addressed in Darlin' and Aren't You Glad. They are both expressions of feelings of beneficence, that is, the rewards of being in a reciprocal loving relationship. While the relationship is in bloom, all is well and balanced. When things begin to crack, perhaps Lonely Days and Honey Get Home are expressions of the feeling of fear of loss of the intimacy, both emotional and sexual, which can be gone in a struggling, on-the-rocks relationship. The Letter potentially expresses the confrontational moment when one partner in the relationship expresses the feeling that the relationship is broken, and the other person rushes to his partner's side to try to salvage what is lost. Finally, Let the Wind Blow is that moment when the partner who didn't sense his partner's unhappiness pleads with fate to save the relationship.
It is no wonder that Cool Cool Water was shelved....it had no topical relationship to the rest of the songs on the original album's theme. Thus, the released Wild Honey bears more resemblance to an album of 11 songs, not necessarily connected by an overriding theme. The “new songs’ consisting of Country Air, I’d Love Just Once to See You, How She Boogalooed It, and Mama Says (from Smile) changed the feel of the overall album to being more humorous, placing less focus on the relationship theme, and replacement of Cool Cool Water with a song focused on Country Air.
"It was Wild Honey’s lack of artistic pretension that bewildered the growing serious role of rock critic as well as the rapidly shrinking legions of Beach Boys fans. For a year, they had patiently waited for Smile. Smiley Smile had hardly mollified them, and many of those who decided to give the Beach Boys another chance were only further alienated by Wild Honey. Among other reasons, for Wild Honey, given Brian’s disinterest in making a studio statement, the Beach Boys consciously decided to make a “simple” record.
Wild Honey single: Recorded September 26-27, 1967
Charted at #22 in USA Charts
Flip Side: Wind Chimes (on Smiley Smile album)
Lead vocal by Carl Wilson
Darlin' single: Recorded October 27, 1967
Original Melody appeared on 1964 Thinkin' Bout You Baby Single in June 1964
Charted at #19 in USA Charts
Flip Side: Here Today (on Pet Sounds)
Lead vocal by Carl Wilson
Tracklist:
After
the Beach Boys shelved Lei'd in Hawaii, the pressure for new Beach Boy
music increased manyfold. The trend in popular music to create
increasingly ornate albums with elaborate production became pretentious
and unlistenable for many listeners, bands, and even record companies .
Following
the Gettin' Hungry single, which was a modest hit in some countries,
but did not chart in America, Brian seemed to have some energy to write
new songs with Mike Love, fulfilling a promise he had made to Mike
before beginning work on Pet Sounds with Tony Asher. In essence, Brian
decided to record Smile with Van Dyke Parks, and did not write with Mike
Love as he had told Mike he would.
Mike was
disappointed that Brian did not record songs written by him with Brian
on the album following Pet Sounds (Smile) as he had understood the
agreement he made with Brian when the Pet Sounds album was being
recorded. Mike was not happy with the wordplay Van Dyke Parks had
written for Smile songs, and expressed his frustration to Brian and the
other Beach Boys. He asked Van Dyke Parks what certain parts of Smile's
lyrics meant. Van Dyke, already unhappy with Smile, left the Sessions
permanently in April 1967. Brian held a few sessions in early May, and
then gave his attention to the Heroes and Villains single as released.
After
Smiley Smile's reception in the summer and early fall of 1967, the
abandonment of the Lei'd In Hawaii album, and Capitol's proposal to
release Smile as a 10 track album, The Beach Boys realized that they
were having a slow down in demand for domestic record sales of their lps
and singles. The Beach Boys kept their approach to Wild Honey straight
forward and the album reflected a desire to dial back the elaborate
productions of the past and to record tunes that were soulful and funky
(for 1967).
Carl and Brian both understood the roots of
Rhythm and Blues, the basic boogie woogie piano that Brian refers to in
numerous interviews throughout the years--hence the track 'Boogie
Woodie' from the Surfer Girl album. Carl, Brian, Dennis, and Mike had
been singing rhythm and blues from the radio airwaves since the days at
Mount Vernon and Fairway. There was Johnny Otis on the airwaves in LA.
The production values in the released Wild Honey album reflected a
desire to showcase another new major lead vocalist in the group...Carl
Wilson. His prominence on the released Wild Honey is a bow to the need
to let Brian take a rest.
In an attempt to help fans
realize why Wild Honey was recorded the way it was, Stephen Korthoff
(Brian's cousin) and Arny Geller wrote a warm and accurate assessment of
Wild Honey that appeared on the album's back cover that is still true
50 years after it was released:
Honey, of the wild variety, on a shelf in Brian’s kitchen, was not only
an aide to all of the Beach Boys’ health but the source of inspiration
for the record, “Wild Honey.”
Soon after the R&B-flavored “Wild Honey,” came eight other new songs, and a Beach Boys version of “I Was Made To Love Her.”
We think this is a great album. We love to listen to it. We might just be biased because we work for the Beach Boys.
Please see what you think.
We think this is a great album. We love to listen to it. We might just be biased because we work for the Beach Boys.
Please see what you think.
– STEVE and ARNY
As
for Brian Wilson, the unmedicated mental health concerns he had were
not very obvious to his family and the Beach Boys. For this reason, Carl
was quoted as saying "Brian was still too spacey to produce an album."
Brian recorded some tracks for the early version of Wild Honey,
identified as being on the Brother Records label with the catalog number
9003. His production chops were still amazing, and he showed that
ability on then unfinished tracks such as I Love to Say Dada and Can't
Wait Too Long (also known as Been 'Way Too Long). The preliminary track
list as submitted to Capitol Records named 11 songs.
It
is quite possible that the solo version of Surfs Up, which turned up as
not identified on a master tape and then was released on the 2011 Smile
release, was another track cut in the early days of Brian's beginning
of production of the Brother Records 9003 version of Wild Honey which
was incomplete. The new Capitol double cd set Sunshine Tomorrow
includes the tracks from Brother 9003, and gives listeners an idea of
when Brian ceased producing and Carl Wilson steeped into the production
role.
Sometime between Brian's early attempts
to produce the album, and Carl's stepping in to finish it, the album's
focus took on a snappy Stax sound that baffled critics and long time
fans. To quote David Leaf's excellent liner notes from the1990 combined
Smiley Smile/Wild Honey cd:
"It seems that almost everybody…the public, the critics, the record
industry and maybe even the Beach Boys themselves…was baffled by Smiley
Smile. Shortly after it was released, the group returned to Brian’s
house to record Wild Honey, the record that marked the birth of the
second era of great Beach Boys music. For Wild Honey, given Brian’s disinterest in making a studio statement,
the Beach Boys consciously decided to make a “simple” record."
For the touring group, Brian's more complex music, such as Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations, was a major headache to perform live with just the touring group of 5 members. The group gave Brian that feedback during the latter days of the Smile Sessions, and it may have been a factor in his shelving that project.
Sometime between Brian's early attempts to produce the album, and Carl's stepping in to finish it, Wild Honey's focus took on a snappy Stax sound that baffled critics and long time fans. Brother 9003, the first "Wild Honey,' had some quite personal music of Brian's begun and then left behind. Wild Honey became an album different than perhaps what Brian originally conceived.
The original track lineup for Brother 9003, was submitted by Brian and Carl. Wild
Honey became an album different than perhaps what Brian originally
conceived. Brother 9003, the first "Wild Honey,' had some quite personal
music of Brian's begun and then left behind. In my travels, I turned
several Capitol memoranda which revealed that 9003, the great lost Wild
Honey album begun by Brian, had the following track lineup: Wild
Honey, Here Comes The Night, Let The Wind Blow, I Was Made To Love Her,
The Letter, Darlin', A Thing Or Two, Aren't You Glad, Cool, Cool
Water, Game Of Love, Lonely Days, Honey Get Home. Wild Honey became an album different than perhaps what Brian originally conceived.
It is apparent that this aborted album, Brother 9003, was for the most part, an album about love and being in the cycle of a relationship. Consider that Wild Honey is a discussion of a woman who is viscerally attractive....a woman who turns you on. This feeling is also expressed in A Thing Or Two, Here Comes the Night, and I Was Made to Love Her. The invitation into a true sexual and emotional relationship may be expressed by The Game of Love. Love in full bloom, perhaps marriage, is addressed in Darlin' and Aren't You Glad. They are both expressions of feelings of beneficence, that is, the rewards of being in a reciprocal loving relationship. While the relationship is in bloom, all is well and balanced. When things begin to crack, perhaps Lonely Days and Honey Get Home are expressions of the feeling of fear of loss of the intimacy, both emotional and sexual, which can be gone in a struggling, on-the-rocks relationship. The Letter potentially expresses the confrontational moment when one partner in the relationship expresses the feeling that the relationship is broken, and the other person rushes to his partner's side to try to salvage what is lost. Finally, Let the Wind Blow is that moment when the partner who didn't sense his partner's unhappiness pleads with fate to save the relationship.
It is no wonder that Cool Cool Water was shelved....it had no topical relationship to the rest of the songs on the original album's theme. Thus, the released Wild Honey bears more resemblance to an album of 11 songs, not necessarily connected by an overriding theme. The “new songs’ consisting of Country Air, I’d Love Just Once to See You, How She Boogalooed It, and Mama Says (from Smile) changed the feel of the overall album to being more humorous, placing less focus on the relationship theme, and replacement of Cool Cool Water with a song focused on Country Air.
Whereas the early Wild Honey (Brother 9003) had some tunes that were at
times more complex in approach, Carl's production role on what became
Capitol T2859 evolved into the harder edged rhythm and blues sound that
Carl loved and produced. Like many Beach Boys albums post-Smile, there
was more than a listener might initially perceive to Wild Honey. Fans
wondered if it was an essential album by the Beach Boys or a creative
misfire. If the reader wonders why Carl stepped in for Brian, here is a
Brian quote from 2015 which answers that question: In a January 2013 interview in Uncut Magazine,
Brian shared that "It was always a challenge for me to live up to my
name. It was a really big thing for me. People expected me to come up
with great orchestral stuff all the time and it became a burden. I was
getting tired of it. It still happens, too, but you just learn to live
with it. So the other guys started getting more into the production
side of things. Carl [Wilson] really got into that. And we decided to
make a rhythm ’n ’blues record. We consciously made a simpler album. It
was just a little R’n’B and soul. It certainly wasn’t like a regular
Beach Boys record. It was good to go back to the boogie-woogie piano I’d
grown up with. Dear old Dad [Murry Wilson] taught me how to play that
stuff when I was young. In its way, it’s very nostalgic. And we used the
theremin again for 'Wild Honey'. Carl had fun singing on that." So
Brian saw it as it turned out,
to be a chance to let the other Beach Boys, particularly Carl, channel
their creative energy in the studio, and to let Brian’s role be mainly
singing and songwriting. To quote David Leaf again:
"It was Wild Honey’s lack of artistic pretension that bewildered the growing serious role of rock critic as well as the rapidly shrinking legions of Beach Boys fans. For a year, they had patiently waited for Smile. Smiley Smile had hardly mollified them, and many of those who decided to give the Beach Boys another chance were only further alienated by Wild Honey. Among other reasons, for Wild Honey, given Brian’s disinterest in making a studio statement, the Beach Boys consciously decided to make a “simple” record.
Seminal
rock critic Paul Williams, who, like many fanatical Brian Wilson
supporters, at first wasn’t crazy about Wild Honey, put his reaction in
proper perspective in this excerpt from his classic 1969 book, Outlaw
Blues: “We expected more (from Brian) than we would expect from any
other composer alive, because the tracks we’d heard from Smile were
just that good. Smiley Smile was…a confusion…and Wild Honey is just
another Beach Boys record, which is only to say that it’s not Smile and
it was necessary for us to forget Smile before we could appreciate what
came later…I love Wild Honey because it is new and fresh and raw and
beautiful and the first step in the direction of even greater things
than what was once to be. I celebrate Wild Honey as a work of joy, and
one more gift of music from probably the most creative musician alive.”
Unfortunately
for the Beach Boys, Paul Williams was in the minority. Bruce Johnston
had a humorous but insightful quote regarding rock critics' opinions of
the musical approach to production of late Sixties Beach Boys' records: "We
can't really keep our approach we have been taking musically if the
only people who love it are 5 guys at Crawdaddy Magazine." As
far as most rock critics were concerned, Smiley Smile and Wild Honey,
released within months of each other, confirmed that the Beach Boys were
musical lightweights. To the “hipster” crowd, the group had
become passe. Yet, it’s a fact that in 1968, after Wild Honey had already come out, Bob
Dylan released John Wesley Harding and the Beatles cut “simpler” records
like “Lady Madonna.” And much of that year’s White Album was very
basically produced. While there’s no evidence that either Dylan or the
Beatles were following Brian’s lead, they certainly were all heading
down the same path. Brian was the first to pull back from the production “race,” and to most
of the Beach Boys long-time fans, or the recent converts who had been
blown away by Pet Sounds, “Good Vibrations” and Sgt. Pepper, that wasn’t
acceptable. They expected more “high” art from Brian because very few producers
could “play” the studio with the virtuosity of a Brian Wilson.
However,
as Brian was relinquishing his role as a cutting edge artist, Wild
Honey could only reflect the new and baffling simplicity of
his home based approach to music and life. Much of the late Sixties
production work was done by converting Brian and Marilyn's living room
into a home studio. The only problem was that the Brother Records mixing
console traveled with the touring group whenever they were on the road,
leaving Brian without an essential tool of his converting his raw songs
into coherent and enjoyable productions. However, Brian did manage to
somehow turn that low key approach
into a new art form (best exemplified on Smiley Smile, Wild Honey,
Friends, and on the
first Paul McCartney solo album). It
is hard to discuss live versus recorded performance without considering
the psychology of musical experience. As with Smile, there will be
those who argue that Wild Honey as a complete multisensory live
experience would transcend any passive listening experience to these
songs, even with headphones. For long-time Beach Boys fans like
myself, hearing the entire Wild Honey album live would be a more
complete experience….if Brian was present. To quote David Leaf again:
"More than anything, maybe the essential truth is that the Beach Boys
really didn’t set out to produce either Smiley Smile or Wild Honey as major
artistic efforts. Smiley Smile was a scramble, a struggle to piece
together musical fragments to make songs. And Wild Honey was a new
beginning…the Beach Boys rediscovering the joy of just making good,
solid R&B based rock music. The piano lines in Wild Honey are, in
their own way, as inventive as Brian’s more textured records…Brian
happily going back to his roots, the boogie woogie piano that he had
loved as a teen."
In 2017,
Wild Honey sounds like nothing more than a band that,
having lost their hip musical identity by using the environment
sonically to be the ultimate studio instrument, instead, looking for its
old identity as a rock group, trying to bury the resentments. The Beach
Boys, for the first time since
1965, played on most of the instrumental tracks on the album. While the
primitive feel of Wild Honey is part of its charm, that
same lack of production is the reason it didn’t initially wear as well
as the
group’s mid-60’s albums. From a 2017 perspective, Wild
Honey is a Beach Boys record that is looked back upon very fondly. Even
though Wild Honey may not be rock music “high art,” it’s an album that
has steadily grown in reputation as one of the Beach Boys' musical
"jewels" that were released from the post Smile to the Holland album.
In
thinking in a retrospective manner, there’s a lot of great music on
Wild Honey, which meant that when
hardcore Beach Boys fans, who had listened to Smiley Smile muttering
"wtf!" to themselves, first heard Wild Honey, they at least saw that The
Beach Boys were innovating again
.” Is Wild Honey’s recent critical re-appraisal deserved? As a production transition album, Wild Honey often is thought to be slight, with good songs that were under-produced. Taken
on its own merit, Wild Honey offers a new Beach Boy experience, as did
every Beach Boys album up through Beach Boys Love You. That is, it
is the same group, but there are new and exciting twists, turns, and
blind curves that make each new Beach Boys album that one hears for the
first time a revelation. That is like the joy of exhilaration that comes
when you see your first Georgia O’Keefe painting in person, or discover
a novel that takes you to a new world like Dune or the Harry Potter
series. In my own perspective in looking Wild Honey 50 years later in 2017 - It has become my favorite "all-weather lp.
Here are two perspectives from group members:
Bruce Johnston: “I loved Wild Honey because I thought it was getting us
back on the track again. It was probably the funkiest Beach Boys album,
very little production, but a lot of music without any complications. I
just remember we wanted to be a band again. The whole (Smile) thing had
wiped everyone out, and we wanted to play together again.”
Carl Wilson offered another angle: “Wild Honey was music for Brian to cool out by.”
Wild Honey single: Recorded September 26-27, 1967
Charted at #22 in USA Charts
Flip Side: Wind Chimes (on Smiley Smile album)
Lead vocal by Carl Wilson
Netherlands Wild Honey/Then I Kissed Her Single Picture Cover
Please note the Smile Booklet Photos!
Darlin' single: Recorded October 27, 1967
Original Melody appeared on 1964 Thinkin' Bout You Baby Single in June 1964
Charted at #19 in USA Charts
Flip Side: Here Today (on Pet Sounds)
Lead vocal by Carl Wilson
USA Beach Boys Darlin'/HereToday Single Picture Cover
Beach Boys-USA Wild Honey Album-Released December 18,1967
Recorded September to November 1967
Charted at #24 USA Album Charts
USA Wild Honey Album Front Cover
USA Wild Honey Album Back Cover
Artwork for the Beach Boys Sunshine Tomorrow Vault Release
Tracklist:
1 Wild Honey (Stereo Mix / Remastered 2017)
2 Aren't You Glad (Stereo Mix / Remastered 2017)
3 I Was Made To Love Her (Stereo Mix / Remastered 2017)
4 Country Air (Stereo Mix / Remastered 2017)
5 A Thing Or Two (Stereo Mix / Remastered 2017)
6 Darlin' (Stereo Mix / Remastered 2017)
7 I'd Love Just Once To See You (Stereo Mix / Remastered 2017)
8 Here Comes The Night (Stereo Mix / Remastered 2017)
9 Let The Wind Blow (Stereo Mix / Remastered 2017)
10 How She Boogalooed It (Stereo Mix / Remastered 2017)
11 Mama Says
12 Lonely Days (Alternate Version)
13 Cool, Cool, Water (Alternate Version)
14 Time To Get Alone (Alternate Version)
15 Can't Wait Too Long (Alternate Version)
16 I'd Love Just Once To See You (Alternate Version)
17 I Was Made To Love Her (Vocal Insert Session)
18 I Was Made To Love Her (Long Version)
19 Hide Go Seek (Backing Track Master Take - Instrumental)
20 Honey Get Home (Backing Track Master Take - Instrumental)
21 Wild Honey (Session Highlights Instrumental)
22 Aren't You Glad (Session Highlights Instrumental)
23 A Thing Or Two (Track And Backing Vocals)
24 Darlin' (Session Highlights Instrumental)
25 Let The Wind Blow (Session Highlights Instrumental)
26 Wild Honey (Live In Detroit / 1967)
27 Country Air (Live In Detroit / 1967)
28 Darlin' (Live In Pittsburgh / 1967)
29 How She Boogalooed It (Live In Detroit / 1967)
30 Aren't You Glad (Live / 1970)
31 Mama Says (Session Highlights)
Disk 2
1 Heroes And Villains (Single Version Backing Track)
2 Vegetables (Long Version)
3 Fall Breaks And Back To Winter (Alternate Mix)
4 Wind Chimes (Alternate Tag Section)
5 Wonderful (Backing Track / Instrumental)
6 With Me Tonight (Alternate Version With Session Intro)
7 Little Pad (Backing Track / Instrumental)
8 All Day All Night (Whistle In) (Alternate Version 1)
9 All Day All Night (Whistle In) (Alternate Version 2)
10 Untitled (Redwood) (Instrumental)
11 Fred Vail Intro (Live / 1967)
12 The Letter (Alternate Mono Mix - Live / 1967)
13 You're So Good To Me (Live / 1967)
14 Help Me, Rhonda (Mono Mix / Live / 1967)
15 California Girls (Mono Mix / Live / 1967)
16 Surfer Girl (Mono Mix / Live / 1967)
17 Sloop John B (Live / 1967)
18 With A Little Help From My Friends (Mono Mix / Live / 1967)
19 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring (Mono Mix / Live / 1967)
20 God Only Knows (Mono Mix / Live / 1967)
21 Good Vibrations (Live / 1967)
22 Game Of Love (Outtake / Live / 1967)
23 The Letter (Alternate Stereo Mix - Live / 1967)
24 With A Little Help From My Friends (Stereo Mix / Live / 1967)
25 Hawthorne Boulevard (Instrumental / Live in Honolulu / 1967)
26 Surfin' (Live In Honolulu / 1967)
27 Gettin' Hungry (Live In Honolulu / 1967)
28 Hawaii (Rehearsal Take / Live in Honolulu / 1967)
29 Heroes And Villains (Rehearsal Take / Live In Honolulu /
1967)
30 California Girls (Live In Washington, D.C. / 1967)
31 Graduation Day (Live In Washington, D.C. / 1967)
32 I Get Around (Live In Boston / 1967)
33 Surf's Up (1967 Version)
34 Surfer Girl (1967 A Cappella Mix)
Text Copyright 2017 by Peter Reum - All Rights Reserved
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