The sad, crazy adventures of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys

[Isaac Sauvage]

Thanks again, Bill, for sharing that fascinating book. I think I'm up to around p250 or so now, but it can be a hard read at times. I'm pausing at ~1980, and I have to shake my head at how bad things were in the band, at the time. Like, if it wasn't for that *lucrative CBS contract*, I don't know what would have kept them together (in the very limited way that they were still together, of course).

I mean, Mike Love and various forces around the band were known quantities, but when even the three Wilson Bros got to resenting each other, just... WOW. Not to mention, all three seemed headed to early graves even by the mid-70's or so. Carl, for example, had been a smoker since age 13, and evidently could barely stand at times from severe back pain.

Seriously, I'm afraid to even revisit the bulk of their albums from the early 70's on, because other than a few BRIGHT SPOTS, it sounds like they were pretty dang dreadful. As in, Brian with his creative fire almost completely gone... his voice shot to hell by age 34... and the one guy in the band that could write very good songs (brother Dennis) didn't have much drive to do so. Or more importantly, didn't have the real recognition and appreciation from his bandmates.

On the subject of Mike Love-- so far I thought his biggest, most-prickish moment occurred when Brian was tearing himself to shreds trying to finish the Smile record, and Mike was just completely impatient, inconsiderate and merciless towards him. I mean, on the surface that sounds sort of plausible if the group had started as clear equals, and Brian was trying to wrestle away control and such...

On the contrary, according to the book, Brian was essentially planning the band back in middle school and high school, when he was organising and directing singing sessions during lunch break and such. As in, there would be NO HITS and NO BAND without his early creative drive, and Mike might have been left to pump gas the rest of his life, with a chronic reputation as a ne'er-do-well. IIRC such was the case right after Mike was thrown out of his parents place around age 18 or so. Then, after Brian started the group, Mike became extremely driven and expectant that Brian would just keep chugging out hits and staying absolutely the same artistically. What an 'asshole expectation,' to speak frankly.

And that's hardly mentioning the fact that father Murry was the one who evidently forced cousin Mike in to the band, in the first place.

Still, the ultimate mental torture (on all three of the Wilsons) had to have come directly from father Murry. As in-- at least Mike Love and whatever other vultures du jour could be run away from. Murry Wilson, their father? He wasn't just in their heads 24/7, but it was also that the Wilsons were just KIDS, with nowhere else to go during this early period.

Funny how Mike and Al Jardine aren't in this pic-- it's the three bros with sometimes bandmate David Marks, parents to the right. IIRC it was actually manager Murry who insisted that their shiftless cousin Mike get included in the group in the first place(!)

 

[LeeVanCleef]

You are more than welcome! Being a Beach Boys fan in the '70s was a tough proposition if you were looking for anything other than a repackaged "best of"... which, thankfully, I wasn't, for the most part. 15 Big Ones would be the one I would choose as least embarrassing, but I don't think I've heard that album as a growed up. One that I have since discovered is surprisingly good was their live double-album. I think the book talks about how Carl really became a guiding force on that tour and having someone with a vision who actually cares about the shows really makes a difference. Even the more moldy-oldies on that one have a sound more current to the '70s, and a lot better than the "greatest hits" shows they'd give themselves over to in the '80s up to the present.
I actually got to see Brian with the Boys in what was, apparently, a rare concert appearance in... '79, I think? Being a young'un, I didn't know much if anything about all the inner-group craziness, but I did know one thing; when Brian sang "In My Room" he sounded horrible.

 

[sleepy]

Was Brian otherwise solid?

 

[LeeVanCleef]

Well, he seemed to be banging on the keyboards well enough but, IIRC, (and there's probably some doubt about that!) Room was his only lead vocal of the show.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

1983-- dennis gets drunk, decides to go diving for items lost overboard, and winds up drowning.

according to the book, he was already a basket case by the early 80's. as in, yes... the most talented remaining member of the band was usually too drugged-up and liquored-up to produce more songs, either solo or for the boys.

and then you have dennis as a touring performer... in that capacity it seems he was even more disastrous... barely able to stay seated and maintain rhythm on his drum stool. seems he got put on leave for months at a time because of this stuff, but brought back repeatedly because the band strongly needed at least one wilson brother to maintain a certain self-respect in the performing, touring sense.

apparently this went hand-in-hand with carl having had enough and forming his own band, sometimes almost meeting the boys across touring venues in the USA.

at this point (likely well before), brian was just as much dysfunctional on piano and vocals as dennis was on drums. the book says brian could barely touch the keys at the right moments and couldn't even play the right chords. "i played in the key of BW," he famously said. as for his voice-- it was already in shreds by that point. a pretty stunning development for one of rock music's most legendary and beautiful high-octave singers at the relatively young age of the early-30's, or age 40 by 1982.


1985-- along with reports of up to 1.5 million other locals in attendance, i went to the "philadelphia freedom festival" on the parkway of the arts and listened to the regular touring lineup of the band (carl, mike, al, bruce) perform for us on the 4th of july, early afternoon. later the band would jumps on a bus, hit I-95, and play another famous concert on the washington mall.

back to the philly concert... apparently joan jett, christopher cross, the oak ridge boys and jimmy page(!!) performed with the boys for this historic free, open-air concert.

in this lousy photo i found online, going left-to-right i'm thinking that's carl wilson on lead guitar, bruce johnston or a touring member on keyboards, jimmy page doing his thang, singer mike love and al jardine filling in brian's old position on bass.

and now mike's nephew kevin love is one of the stars for the local NBA team. i mean, you want to talk about apples...?

 

[sleepy]

Christopher Cross was filling in for Brian? I think that is what he was doin'.

And Dennis. Yes. He was the one from the WEA side who cut over to the WB side where I worked and talked straight-faced about the upcoming Jimi Hendrix revival tour in 1977. A redundant joke that he repeated many times over the course of several months. But he was nice. Of course if what he meant by that was all about the upcoming hazing and the Pukes from sleep deprivation, in reference to Jimi, well, not so nice...

He was pretty much living on his boat in the Marina Del Rey harbor, near Venice when he drowned. An area which I drove to every other day for a couple of years just to beat the Angelino blahs and the hazing crap. EDIT: And grab a jalapeno veggie burger and a tall iced tea at Delores' Restaurant in Santa Monica, along the way. Funky Town.

 

[LeeVanCleef]

Sumbitch! I saw them in '85, too! Of course, Wichita didn't get Jimmy Page. We did get John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, though. "On the Dark Side" had already been out for about a year and I'm pretty sure every one in the crowd had already forgotten it by then. Who's ready for an '80s flashback?!?! This doesn't sound anything like a Bruce song!

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[sleepy]

Man. I don't know if this has been posted before. But it is right in step with the thread, I think. Note that in God Only Knowqs-Part 1, that Brian tells Ray the Bass Player to play the single note bass line. Ray oblidges, but then throws "satisfaction" back at Brian. The bass line is a direct rip playing under the complex segway. Listen!

EDIT: Mickey One.

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[sleepy]

That family shot. Check out the white socks!
So that's Brian and David and David's Father wearing the white "Marks socks"?
Like the red headed child?

And that's "Nellie" wearing the "Murry" with the fringe on top, with "Wilson Socks"?

I saw Brian at the Tower Record Store, on release of his solo album. He made an appearance and he was extremely nervous. Not at all like his demeanor in the "Behind the Scenes" audios above. It's a shame.
The last time I got a look like that was at "The Black Tower" (the MCA Building). I was delivering a tape to the penthouse in late '77-early '78 and I shared the elevator with Herb Edelman. He was literally crouching against the corner of the elevator car. He looked terrified. Other than recognizing him from "The Good Guys", I didn't know him. That was a shame too. I liked him. Maybe he was phobic of tall elevators? But that was the only way to get up there. In earthquake country.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

the book mentions brian's public nervousness quite a bit.

the fact that he turned from a gregarious soul and leader... the quarterback of his HS football team and clear-cut bandleader / song-leader of his entire HS class... to someone terrified of the public spotlight is arguably the saddest reflection of the whole book.

another problem is that landry was dosing him with such high levels of psychotropic meds that even as he was doing interviews for his (quite excellent) debut solo album around 1986, he also displayed tremors and rather horrifying blackouts in front of the journalists. even in quiet, theoretically comfortable settings.

almost 30 years ago i remember reading the aghast confessions of interviewer-of-choice about this stuff and naturally concluded (like most people, prolly) "well shit... guess it's not good to do drugs." most of us assumed that meant coke, alcohol, speed and whatever.

but it wasn't what it appeared to be. once stan love et al got landry out of brian's life, he stopped taking most of that stuff and the tremors and blackouts disappeared from what i understand.

and yes it must be said-- landry DID save brian's life at one or two points. even the most ardent brian-supporter should be able to admit that. but landry also did it as a pretty clear-cut usurer and parasite... i.e., not so much out of professional regard, but as a way to pad his wealth and add to his fame. the book gets in to pretty good detail on this, but i'll leave it at that for now.

 

[sleepy]

It was Dr. Landy. I remember it because of my nickname back at the burning house.
And yea, Brian looked terrified, with that "stay balanced/stay in control" quizzical expression on his face. Similar to the look he showed during the GRAMMYS Beach Boys tribute at the piano while playing "Good Vibrations" I think it was. Did anyone else notice it?

There were only about 20 people who showed up for the Tower Records appearance on Sunset Blvd.. We stood in line outside while I guess Brian prepared himself. He wasn't performing or speaking. He was just there to autograph the record purchases. When they let us in, I was only one of 5 of the people in line and he looked nervous standing in spot. Like maintaining on meds or on an ear infection. If you've ever experienced vertigo from an ear infection, or a reaction to medication, then you know what I mean about standing in one spot to maintain one's dignity and abilities...

And it is possible that he was simply blown out by the very small number of people who bothered to show up. But this was at 10 A.M. on a workday.
Compare that to the evening when the surviving members of The Doors appeared at the store to autograph their boxed set release. This was a $79 set.
The lines went around the block, for hours of waiting.

EDIT: On the other hand, an Anthony Hopkins, or even a Roger Ebert, gets his Star on the Walk of Fame and draws thousands of onlookers on an 11 A.M. workday.
McCartney drew about a thousand. And in the evening ceremony, Ringo drew about 500 onlookers, though I think Ringo was on short notice to the public.

Still, when you're starting over and everything is telling you that you are too late, that has to be a blow. But I would ignore it and focus on the projects instead. In the beginning, nobody knew The Beach Boys before the songs anyhow.
It does become an issue these days of whether you can make it in a market of Taylor Swifts and Beibers. So the focus is on Quality. Or should be. That's where the fun is.

Heh. Doc Landy even got prominent credit on the album cover.

 

[sleepy]

I think it was the character that Gene Hackman played in the movie, "Bite the Bullet", in that scene after they doped him with a mickey and he's clenching his fists with a grimace, fighting it off.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

sleepy, did anybody try talking to him? and if so, did he just shrug it off and stick to signing?

TBH i'm not really surprised at the light turnout in 1988. at that point he'd had about 15 years of his name being attached to shoddy work, not to mention was famously known as a flameout for about as long. as a very beloved individual, i imagine that loads of people didn't want to gawk at or embarrass the poor guy.

compare that to the late 60's / early 70's, and the response would probably have been much different. not to mention, different around the time he formed his own band in the late 90's / early aughts and started playing pet sounds-type stuff and not the same old set list the titular band stuck to.

this actually brings me to the latest bit i'm reading, and boy is it a relief to know that he eventually became happy, functional and slaying audiences as of olde.

it seems that little by little his second wife and friends persuaded him to start playing some pet sounds / smile for their parties and informal gatherings. everyone loved it, and bit by bit his confidence and pleasure returned. this all culminated of course in the mythical smile album finally being reworked, his touring the world with his new band to rave reviews, and the album itself finally being released against all expectations. it really was a series of miracles that took place, and i suspect the final cause for the book to be written. it would have been just too depressing, otherwise.

interestingly, smile went from the album that couldn't be made to THREE official albums, various re-issues, and countless bootlegs and fan compilations. the beach boys themselves released a replication of smile (the smile sessions) using archival tape from the mid-to-late 60's. each of the three versions is regarded as a classic and one of the finest albums of the year by many publications.

the one thing about brian's version is that it's completely redone by his new band in contemporary times. i've heard it and it's nice, but it also seems a little overproduced and not quite as inspired as the original stuff. the smile sessions is probably about the closest one can get to what the original album actually would have sounded like. the first one that came out of course (smiley smile) was a stripped-down version considered flat and disappointing at the time.

 

[LeeVanCleef]

My favorite part of Brian's official Smile release is where he rewrote all of Mike's lyrics to Good Vibrations, so he wouldn't get a songwriting credit. I don't mind Smile but, man, it ain't no Pet Sounds. Of course, that's the kind of thinking that helped drive Brian around the bend.
So this article couldn't have been posted at a more serendipitous time... at least as far as this thread goes. Blondie Chaplin was the guitarist on the double live album I mentioned somewhere in this thread. Kinda looking forward to this.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...huck-berry-and-surfin-usa-20150312-story.html

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

well, it's mike love that decides, mofo.


http://pitchfork.com/news/48008-bea...n-al-jardine-and-david-marks-out-of-the-band/

 

[LeeVanCleef]

LOL! I remember that! What really left me gobsmacked at the time is that Brian was about as surprised by the decision than anyone! He was actually looking forward to touring with them in Europe. I think what I realized when I saw them in 1985 is that I was no longer seeing a band but a brand. That's the way Mike likes it. Whether people are showing up to hear Brian or they just want to see the most recognizable front man grinding out the same tired tunes, he gets paid either way. And probably more without them. What a dick.

 

[sleepy]

No, we didn't talk. He was unsettled up front. Like Herb on an elevator.

That reminds me. Connie, the Mother of my school chum who worked "the restaurant trade in downtown L.A." took seven of us to The Chinese Theater out of pocket to see Disney's "The Jungle Book" on release. She bought for everyone at "Johnny's Steak House" (not cheap), and we walked the boulevard afterwards. We stopped in at Phil Harris Records.
He owned the store with his name on it, wasn't there to speak of, and of course, he voiced one of the characters in the film. Connie liked him.

They had a shitload of Smiley Smile (brand new release) with that paper punch hole though the covers, all of them, and they were selling the entire album (mono) for $0.99. At that time, a typical mono album at department discount pricing sold for $2.
I think I bought Smiley from my paper route money. $60/Mo. which wasn't bad for a 13 year old. That job also got me to Disneyland after earning 10 new subscribers on "Crew Night".
I don't remember Connie springing for it, but I think she offered ti buy it for me and my sense of ethics had already decided that she was already paying us kids more than enough for the night.

Phil Harris' first name was "Wongo". I think Connie mentioned meeting him.
I wonder if Phil ever met Brian?

 

[sleepy]

As for myself, no I didn't talk. I felt like a nuisance. A lookyloo.
I wasn't there to buy the album, and I felt it would be rude to hit him up for chit-chat.
I was there to sort out the local chaos in my life, thank you folks, while in the presence of a known relevant entity. And I was already remembering things by that time. Tunes that I had forgotten I had once created. Like "Kokomo". But that was Elektra (WEA next door, or somewhere in my apartment...room).

Hey, at least Brian admits to borrowing from Chuck Berry.

 

[sleepy]

Oh yeah...the movie "Cocktail" *COUGH*. And "Cheers" and the Cheers theme.
And "Friends" and the Friends theme. No. No more piano now.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

on that note, i just noticed that the "i" in brian's smile logo is being completely dominated by the side-letters "M" and "L."

in the BB's version, the "i" is given the respect of greatest height, but is also the tiniest letter of the group, held up by the close attention of "M" and "L."

possibly i'm just bored...

 

[sleepy]

And No. I am not Travis Bickle. *COUGH*.
On a side note, my Brother claimed to serve in the NAVY in the late 60's. I even visited him on the U.S.S. Enterprise in '69. His alleged Father-in-law drove him and me to San Diego, over 300 miles away, and we boarded without complication. We just walked on-board and talked to Brother.
None of my family went along. Just me and his alleged Father-in-law.
On the way home, we stopped at "Oscar's" for burgers.

My Brother kept "NAVY Momentos". There was a bath towel that fell into use.
It was marked with the name "Bickle". This was in '70.

Note: The history of that ship in '69 is not exactly true. It was docked in San Diego for a time.

EDIT: Saw De Niro several years ago, up the street in the parking lot at the corner liquor store. munching on a bag of Doritos.

 

[sleepy]

Interesting. My initials are "A.L.M.".
Good Vibrations was based on "Greensleeves", or started that way. I remember strumming my Brother's Silvertone guitar (with no amp) around '65. It was his '65 Christmas gift from the folks. And he was already a trumpet student, so the guitar was an unusual choice for him. I think I got more use out of it than he did, and so did they. I was already a violin student at that time. I never get to guitar lessons though.
Brother had a copy of "Play Guitar With the Ventures", so I practiced "Raunchy" a lot. I played with "Walk, Don't Run", though I didn't need it. That theme song came from fooling around with my step-grandfather's piano.
Else, about the guitar, I played my own strums, or old tunes like "Greensleeves" which I liked and often jazzed up.

I don't remember any of the other songs on Smiley though.
I did see Howard Kaylan around here for awhile. A different kind of Landy.

Maybe I'm just bored.

 

[sleepy]

Good God, where have I been? Jesus, I just played a YouTube of "All Summer Long". I was expecting a Ballad with the lush harmonies, but, apart from the verse melody, it was upbeat and too fast and poppy, and I was thinking more like "Surf's Up" in approach. Is there a slower version of that one?

How about this for speculation? If it weren't for The Boys popularizing the Honda motorcycle as a part of the Southern California culture, we might not have ever seen the Honda car imported to America. Mr. Benson was driving a Honda Civic, the football helmet-shaped '74, around about the time of the "15 Big Ones" push with the yellow frisbees sent out to the execs. Nationwide. I brought a couple of those home. Broter Records, distributed by Warner/Reprise in '76.
But they were "frisbee knock-offs" and didn't fly well at all.

I wonder why they were not more involved in promoting the Honda car?
They licensed "Good Vibrations" for the Sunkist Orange Soda ads in the 70's.
Like an orange popsicle Saturday morning, a phrase which I used at the time around my home to describe enchantment in freedom.

EDIT: The last Sunkist Orange Soda that I had was shite. Bitter and horrible, like a rubber tire grapefruit.

 

[sleepy]

And let me be clear. The Southern California culture of which The Boys ephasized was The West, wide-slitting open with free opportunity all the way to Haight Ashbury. We had Bohemia, Surfers and Greasers and Hippies and Prospectors, amd craftsmen and mechanics and prototype shops, and Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and Hell's Angels and Street Performers at Venice Beach. We had 24 hr. shopping and 24 hr. arcades and bowling alleys. Almost all gone now.

Everything has gone Moribund Metro, Provincial and stiff. You'd think you were in New York City now, but with curfew enforced to preserve the embalming.

 

[LeeVanCleef]

During my childhood I spent more time with Phil Harris than I did my father. Must have seen The Aristocats about 6 times and had the storybook-album that I listened to incessantly. I saw Disney's Robin Hood so many times they gave me the movie mobile that hung over the concession stand. A fine man.
Let's face it; Smile never was going to be a great album. It would be impossible to follow up Pet Sounds with anything approaching its almost-leisurely perfection. For me, Sounds is the noise that's made when all the pieces click together. More than that, it shows an amazing emotional depth for... well, for everything! For what Brian had already created, for what else was going on in pop music at the time... hell, he was even beating The Beatles, who were just starting to grow into their long pants with Rubber Soul. Smile had too many half-baked weirdo ideas and goofy novelty songs to ever come close to competing (I never need to hear "Vegetables" again in this life).
They were selling promo copies for 99 cents? That's a pretty good bargain.
Even if my name were listed on the credits, I would deny writing "Kokomo". I'd probably still cash the royalty checks but, musically speaking, it's like saying you wrote and directed Heaven's Gate. Really not something to be proud of.