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How the Beach Boys made records

risingson

By risingson,
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risingson Mentor

risingson

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I've been listening to the Beach Boys, probably due to the fact I've got a P-Bass again and have once more gotten totally hooked on the brilliance of Carol Kaye!

Thought I might share this audio clip for those who haven't heard it before, it details Brian Wilson in the studio directing 'The Wrecking Crew' session players and other assorted musicians from L.A on what to play and where on one of my favourite songs, 'Sloop John B'. It touches on Wilson's need for absolute perfection from the guys and girls he had in the studio during the Pet Sounds sessions, really incredible stuff and an superb ear for arrangement and production. It has also got one of my very favourite Carol Kaye bass lines on it also. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9iu65sot1E&feature=related

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casapete Grand Master

casapete

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Brilliant.
Apparently the Beach Boys are on this weeks 'Later with Jools' , BBC2 Tuesday and Friday.
Don't know how they'll be now, but hopefully will have band made up of Brians current touring outfit, who are
absolutely superb. Guess they'll be doing stuff from their recent album 'Thats why God made the radio'.

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uncle psychosis Mentor

uncle psychosis

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Brilliant. Never mind Lennon/McCartney ---the real hero of the 60s will always be Brian Wilson as far as I'm concerned. In a world where the word genius is thrown around far too often he really does fit the bill.

I get very sad/angry at the thought of what he's been through and what else he might have achieved were it not for the likes of the hideous Mike Love. <_<

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risingson Mentor

risingson

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[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1348440605' post='1813761']
Mike Love? The singer? Tell me more :blink:
[/quote]

A controversial figure, seen as ousting Brian Wilson during a time in which Brian probably needed him most. He shunned Wilson's attempts to move forward with his music and ended up taking the Beach Boys over in a legal capacity, the name, everything. Also noted apparently for his right-wing tendencies.

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Wil Rising Star

Wil

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Has anyone seen the Pet Sounds live performances Brian did with the Wondermints? If so, anyone else think the bassist's Lakland was just totally WRONG for the music, tonally? Way too much sustain and none of that lovely, tic tac character at all.

Edited by Wil
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risingson Mentor

risingson

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[quote name='Wil' timestamp='1348442960' post='1813785']
Has anyone seen the Pet Sounds live performances Brian did with the Wondermints? If so, anyone else think the bassists Lakland was just totally WRONG for the music, tonally? Way too much sustain and none of that lovely, tic tac character at all.
[/quote]

I'll have to check this out. There's a video of Carol Kaye talking about how much of a hard time she had getting on with her P-Bass somewhere back in the day, but IMO nothing compares!

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SteveK Experienced

SteveK

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I had the great fortune to have toured with The Beach Boys in 1991 along with The Allman Brothers. Probably one of the highlights of my career...
apart from an embarrassing incident with Bruce Johnston that still makes me cringe to this day. :secret:

'God only knows' gotta be one of the greatest 3 minute songs ever recorded! Great stuff!

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Wil Rising Star

Wil

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[quote name='paul torch' timestamp='1348476252' post='1813904']
You should read Brian Wilson: Wouldn't It Be nice.

It is an excellent but heart breaking book.
[/quote]

Interestingly though it was wholey written by Brian Wilson's "shrink" at the time, Dr Eugene Landy. Landy is now the subject of a restraining order I think, due to his apparently manipulative treatment of Brian, and Brian himself stood up in court and attested that not only had he not written the book, he never in fact read the manuscript.

That's not to say the book wasnt an excellent read, however, I enjoyed it! I'm just not sure how much of it is really true.

Edited by Wil
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EssentialTension Grand Master

EssentialTension

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[quote name='SteveK' timestamp='1348476512' post='1813909']
I had the great fortune to have toured with The Beach Boys in 1991 along with The Allman Brothers. Probably one of the highlights of my career...
apart from an embarrassing incident with Bruce Johnston that still makes me cringe to this day. :secret:

'God only knows' gotta be one of the greatest 3 minute songs ever recorded! Great stuff!
[/quote]
Now you know we want the Bruce Johnston story after that teaser.

... and +1 on 'God Only Knows'.

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uncle psychosis Mentor

uncle psychosis

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[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1348440605' post='1813761']
Mike Love? The singer? Tell me more :blink:
[/quote]

Its a long, complicated story. Essentially, Love was opposed to Brian's experimenting on "Pet Sounds" (and even more so to Smile---Brian was asked why it wasn't released and his first answer was "Mike hated it"). He was one of the main sources of the pressure on the (very young---he was only 23 when writing Pet Sounds!) Brian to produce hit after hit and go on tour, which was a major factor in the mentally fragile Brian's nervous breakdown(s). Once it became clear that Pet Sounds and Smile were both critically and commercially succesful he has engaged in endless revisionism to pretend that he was supportive of them all along. He has sued the other Beach Boys numerous times and at one point had "exclusive rights" to tour under the Beach Boys name. Here's an extract from his Wikipedia page:

[i]In 1994, despite numerous session musicians and Wilson's "Pet Sounds" collaborator Tony Asher[sup][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Love#cite_note-17"][18][/url][/sup] testifying that his input was minimal, Love won a legal proceeding to establish what he considers proper co-authorship credit for many of the Beach Boys hits. On November 3, 2005 Love sued Brian Wilson and the [i][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_On_Sunday"]Mail On Sunday[/url][/i] newspaper, arguing that both misused the Beach Boys' name and Love's image in a promotional CD that was given free with the paper to promote the 2004 SMiLE release. Love's case argued that the unauthorised (by the legally franchised Beach Boys) free CD resulted in loss of income for the band. He sought several million dollars in damages plus a million dollars to cover costs of advertising to correct the perceived damage to the band's reputation. The lawsuit was dismissed on May 16, 2007 on the grounds that it was without merit. [/i]

He sued Brian Wilson. His own cousin. Because the "Beach Boys" (Mike Love plus extras---no Brian, no Carl, no Dennis) lost income. On a record that he himself helped to supress. I think that says a lot. :(

I won't even get into his politics, but they're not very nice either.

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uncle psychosis Mentor

uncle psychosis

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[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1348481092' post='1813989']
Thanks for posting that Uncle, The man sounds a complete w***er!
[/quote]

A lot of the "evidence" against him is "he said, they said" but he certainly does not appear to come out of the Beach Boys story with much appeal (and the legal battles alone would suggest a fair amount about him). I should point out that its not fair to blame him entirely for Brian's troubles, and he certainly wasn't the only one who piled pressure on Brian or cast doubt on the more experimental direction that was being taken.

One of my great regrets is that I never bought tickets to see Brian on either the Pet Sounds or SMiLE tours. I don't think I'll get another chance now :(

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paul torch Enthusiast

paul torch

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[quote name='Wil' timestamp='1348476772' post='1813916']
Interestingly though it was wholey written by Brian Wilson's "shrink" at the time, Dr Eugene Landy. Landy is now the subject of a restraining order I think, due to his apparently manipulative treatment of Brian, and Brian himself stood up in court and attested that not only had he not written the book, he never in fact read the manuscript.

That's not to say the book wasnt an excellent read, however, I enjoyed it! I'm just not sure how much of it is really true.
[/quote]Interesting, I never knew that.

Seems as though I now need to read something from Brian. Any recommendations?

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SteveK Experienced

SteveK

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[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1348477078' post='1813920']
Now you know we want the Bruce Johnston story after that teaser.
[/quote]
I won't go in to any embarrassing details, suffice it to say: It involved Bruce Johnston dressed totally in white (about to go on stage), and me with a bottle of disappearing ink in my pocket :sorry:

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uncle psychosis Mentor

uncle psychosis

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[quote name='casapete' timestamp='1348733490' post='1817380']
And still it goes on - Mike Love has now sacked Brian and Al Jardine from the Beach Boys!!
Unbelievable - what an utter tw*t.
[/quote]

:(

Mike Love owes everything to Brian. What a horrible, ungreatful, treacherous thing to do. According to the papers they were only told about it when the press release was issued. <_<

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KevB Mentor

KevB

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I'm not defending Love in any way but it isn't quite that simple. Love already had a touring BB band without Brian, Jardine and David Marks. These three members were added in for a reunion tour which has now finished. The intention was always that the stripped down (profitable) version of the band would then do some more shows later and this band doesn't include those members, it's just business. As I said I'm not defending Love and it is always upsetting seeing the founder and main talent in a band lose control over it but then I get quite uncomfortable watching Brian anyway in his current state of health.

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