"Smile" Update/Brian article

Here's a link to a new article about Brian Wilson:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/fridayreview/story/0,12102,1128599,00.html

It includes a bit of new info about "Smile":


...And for decades, while some of his Smile songs were rejigged for subsequent Beach Boys albums or slipped out on bootlegs or the internet, he refused even to mention the project. Until last October, when he went back to the album and finished it.

He was aided by the now-sexagenarian Parks and - half his age - Wondermints keyboardist Darian Sahanaja. Sahanaja located what was left of the tapes in the Capitol records vaults and "loaded all the complete to nearly complete pieces of music on to my laptop and played through them with Brian".

Wilson was nervous at first. So was Sahanaja, "because it was well known that this was the music that began Brian's withdrawal and subsequent spiral. It had to be done in small steps. Fortunately, we had already been performing some of the cornerstone pieces such as Heroes and Villains, Surf's Up and Good Vibrations, all serving as a good points to rally around." Then Wilson "started getting into it. He was genuinely turned on by the sounds he was hearing and asking me how we would pull certain things off live."

 

Whoah! I know he's going to do a Smile Tour (at least in Europe), but a finished SMILE ALBUM?? Man! That would be..........unreal! Let's hope he decides to do a US tour IN SUPPORT OF the new Smile album! The mind boggles!

----- Chris

 

Hi Chris:
I think the jourmalist's statement might be misleading. Brian supposedly finished the songs, but this doesn't mean he went back and worked on the "Smile" session tapes. Since those are "Beach Boys" recordings, I could definitely see a scenario where Mr. Mike Love would try to legally stop Brian from doing anything with those tapes. Brian, of course, is certainly able (and likely) to release a live "Smile" CD from his tour or even go into the studio (more costly/less likely) to record a new version of it.

 

John-Mike Love wants money as much as anyone, so I doubt he would object to Smile coming out.

 

Hi Larry:
I certainly agree with the first part of your statement, but I was specifically talking about a completely hypothetical situation wherein Brian would go back, with the help of his current band, and complete the Capitol "Smile" stuff. If you recall, Mike Love also delayed the release of the "Pet Sounds" box until some of the printed info in the accompanying booklet was changed to be more "Mike-Love-friendly." These guys also have "control" issues. "Hang on to your ego"? Not a problem here!

 

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26274&highlight=brian+smile

More Smile talk above

 

Yeah.....now that you mention it.......if the Beach Boys SMILE were finished and released it would be a Beach Boys album, per se and not a Brian Wilson album (unless, as you mention, he just puts out a Brian Wilson Performs SMILE CD out). And since Mike Love IS the Beach Boys.......hmmmmm. What a bizarre arrangement. Seems like it comes back to the old Mike Love argument that if the work goes out as the Beach Boys it would "alienate" their fan-base (whatever that is now......). No way would Love be adding Smile material to his shows so it seems like the most likely scenario is the live CD, which will awesome anyway since we'll finally get a clear sense of what Brian had in mind with this project. Still hope he decides to bring it to the US!

----- Chris