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Post by Kapitan on Apr 7, 2021 18:02:12 GMT
I just listened to part 1 and 2 of this interview with Chuck Britz. It was new to me, so I figured I'd share it. Thanks for posting these. I'd forgotten at the time, but am getting to them now.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 7, 2021 18:11:39 GMT
By the way, Part 3 of that interview has been posted:
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Post by B.E. on Apr 10, 2021 3:10:41 GMT
The official Brian Wilson YouTube channel has been posting a lot of live/soundcheck videos lately.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 12, 2021 14:10:42 GMT
Part 4 (of 4) of the Chuck Britz interview has been posted.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 13, 2021 17:33:51 GMT
"Eugene Landy is not God, but he is very close to being a godly person." (Brian Wilson in 1991)
EDIT - Nearer the end, about Sweet Insanity, "...and now we have another album coming out, we don't know the title of the album yet, but it's so good, it has such a good feel to it, so many good songs, the vocals are great! ... the vocals are as good as John Lennon, I'm telling you."
And then he's going to play some music. And he plays ... "Love & Mercy." Of course.
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Post by jk on Apr 13, 2021 20:27:24 GMT
Bumped into this while voting in a poll down the road and thought it was super!
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 15, 2021 19:46:59 GMT
"Surfer Girl" from 1989, with Mike, Al, Bruce, and Carl all in the group. (Al takes what is Brian's part at the bridge when he's there.)
I have to say that while this era doesn't get a ton of credit, this is a nice performance. There are some keyboard sounds I'm not thrilled with, but that was certainly of the times. Speaking of the times, it also jarred me into consideration of a topic/question, which I'll share elsewhere.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 15, 2021 20:41:14 GMT
Here's one from the Gershwin era, 2011, from "Later" with Jools Holland. The funny thing is that in the comments, a few people are saying it's prerecorded instruments and backup vocals.
I gotta say, while anything is possible ... I strongly doubt it. I suspect the loudmouth "professional engineer" is just wrong, spouting off because he's not familiar with how good Brian's bands have been. If this is prerecorded, then so has been everything else I've seen them do over the past 20 years. And I seriously, seriously, seriously doubt that.
Plus, if you were going to use prerecorded tracks, why in the hell wouldn't Brian be the main beneficiary of them? "Hey guys, we want to make sure the guy doubling the second tenor part sounds just like the record. Brian? Nah, we don't mind if he sounds like dogshit again." It just doesn't make much sense.
(EDIT - it seems Nelson actually replied to those comments ... not kindly to the doubting know-it-alls, either.)
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 16, 2021 0:17:36 GMT
"Surfer Girl" from 1989, with Mike, Al, Bruce, and Carl all in the group. (Al takes what is Brian's part at the bridge when he's there.)
I have to say that while this era doesn't get a ton of credit, this is a nice performance. There are some keyboard sounds I'm not thrilled with, but that was certainly of the times.
I wanted to address your comment about the era not getting enough credit and that this is a nice performance. I'm not implying that you're saying - They were waaaay past their prime and long gave up on sounding great and couldn't give a professional performance and this lasted for several years - but I think many fans think that, or should I say, I think many fans think THAT period of shoddy performances was longer than it actually was. If you really focus in on it, and if you're honest, The Beach Boys were only...below par...for about some of 1976 when Brian rejoined the group up until 1982, when Brian and Dennis left the touring group. And, in between that time frame, when Brian and Dennis were not present live - and that was frequent - the band was able to put on a competent, professional concert. Carl's sad 1978 tour and his leaving for a year in 1981 is a small footnote, though a painful one. While Brian's and to some extent Dennis's participation in the live shows in the late 70's and early 80's could be termed "inspiring", at least to most fans and some band members, it was also destructive. During that time frame, Brian and Dennis were poor singers, poor musicians, and poor professionals. No matter how much Carl Wilson tried to salvage things and tried to get the sound perfect, it wasn't going to happen with Brian and Dennis Wilson on stage. I had the privilege of attending Beach Boys' concerts with both Brian and Dennis present, and I wouldn't trade those shows for any, but those shows were ragged in many ways. It was only when Brian and Dennis weren't there, and when Bruce Johnston came aboard in 1979, did things start to turn around. The music, the vocals, the harmonies, and the overall sound improved greatly. But, if you take the entire 60-year history of the band, live in concert, it was only a few years (1977, 1978, 1980, 1981) when they were...um...ragged (and I'm being kind with that description).
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 16, 2021 12:06:30 GMT
I was actually thinking more of the later years as being less appealing, before the Totten-led band seemed to get it back together in the 00s, play a more varied setlist, etc. Here is a show cued up to the same song, "Surfer Girl," in 2000. The vocal quality is a different world (and not a better one).
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Post by kds on Apr 16, 2021 12:16:45 GMT
"Surfer Girl" from 1989, with Mike, Al, Bruce, and Carl all in the group. (Al takes what is Brian's part at the bridge when he's there.)
I have to say that while this era doesn't get a ton of credit, this is a nice performance. There are some keyboard sounds I'm not thrilled with, but that was certainly of the times.
I wanted to address your comment about the era not getting enough credit and that this is a nice performance. I'm not implying that you're saying - They were waaaay past their prime and long gave up on sounding great and couldn't give a professional performance and this lasted for several years - but I think many fans think that, or should I say, I think many fans think THAT period of shoddy performances was longer than it actually was. If you really focus in on it, and if you're honest, The Beach Boys were only...below par...for about some of 1976 when Brian rejoined the group up until 1982, when Brian and Dennis left the touring group. And, in between that time frame, when Brian and Dennis were not present live - and that was frequent - the band was able to put on a competent, professional concert. Carl's sad 1978 tour and his leaving for a year in 1981 is a small footnote, though a painful one. While Brian's and to some extent Dennis's participation in the live shows in the late 70's and early 80's could be termed "inspiring", at least to most fans and some band members, it was also destructive. During that time frame, Brian and Dennis were poor singers, poor musicians, and poor professionals. No matter how much Carl Wilson tried to salvage things and tried to get the sound perfect, it wasn't going to happen with Brian and Dennis Wilson on stage. I had the privilege of attending Beach Boys' concerts with both Brian and Dennis present, and I wouldn't trade those shows for any, but those shows were ragged in many ways. It was only when Brian and Dennis weren't there, and when Bruce Johnston came aboard in 1979, did things start to turn around. The music, the vocals, the harmonies, and the overall sound improved greatly. But, if you take the entire 60-year history of the band, live in concert, it was only a few years (1977, 1978, 1980, 1981) when they were...um...ragged (and I'm being kind with that description).
I think a certain segment of fans tend to extend the period of "shoddy performances" due to the presence of cheerleaders or hula girls that I think lasted through the 1980s.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 16, 2021 12:32:11 GMT
I wanted to address your comment about the era not getting enough credit and that this is a nice performance. I'm not implying that you're saying - They were waaaay past their prime and long gave up on sounding great and couldn't give a professional performance and this lasted for several years - but I think many fans think that, or should I say, I think many fans think THAT period of shoddy performances was longer than it actually was. If you really focus in on it, and if you're honest, The Beach Boys were only...below par...for about some of 1976 when Brian rejoined the group up until 1982, when Brian and Dennis left the touring group. And, in between that time frame, when Brian and Dennis were not present live - and that was frequent - the band was able to put on a competent, professional concert. Carl's sad 1978 tour and his leaving for a year in 1981 is a small footnote, though a painful one. While Brian's and to some extent Dennis's participation in the live shows in the late 70's and early 80's could be termed "inspiring", at least to most fans and some band members, it was also destructive. During that time frame, Brian and Dennis were poor singers, poor musicians, and poor professionals. No matter how much Carl Wilson tried to salvage things and tried to get the sound perfect, it wasn't going to happen with Brian and Dennis Wilson on stage. I had the privilege of attending Beach Boys' concerts with both Brian and Dennis present, and I wouldn't trade those shows for any, but those shows were ragged in many ways. It was only when Brian and Dennis weren't there, and when Bruce Johnston came aboard in 1979, did things start to turn around. The music, the vocals, the harmonies, and the overall sound improved greatly. But, if you take the entire 60-year history of the band, live in concert, it was only a few years (1977, 1978, 1980, 1981) when they were...um...ragged (and I'm being kind with that description).
I think a certain segment of fans tend to extend the period of "shoddy performances" due to the presence of cheerleaders or hula girls that I think lasted through the 1980s. Yes, I think that's true. However, cheerleaders, Billy Hinsche rapping to "Wipe Out", and a less than adventurous setlist aside - the music, the vocals, and the professionalism was consistently good. I think Brian's deterioration and going back to Landy the second time, and Dennis' death the following year, were the turning points. While things were never said publicly, I think it was implied. The Beach Boys had enough of the drugs and alcohol affecting their performances, and just the unprofessional attitude and appearance that the band were getting a reputation for. There was a lot of truth to James Watt's stance. While I think they already started to clean up their act before Dennis passed, I think that's the line of demarcation, Dennis' death. This had to end, and I think Mike, Al, Bruce, and Carl knew it. They were ready to cut the crap and grow up - in their forties. But it's sad that it took the tragedies of Brian and Dennis to shake them up enough to change.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 16, 2021 12:36:21 GMT
I think Mike, Al, and Bruce knew it before then ... they just didn't necessarily have the ability (or will) to do anything about it. I mean, they did something: they occasionally "fired" both Brian and Dennis.
But they were never able to bring those guys back into the band clean and sober (or at least professionally functional, performing at a high level). Which makes sense, especially in Brian's case: it's hard to play hardball with the undisputed best talent in the group, a founding member who also happens to have written and arranged almost everything you're going to play every night.
Once Brian was mostly out and Dennis was dead, it was probably just much easier. Imagine not having to worry about who was going to show up, in what state they were going to show up, whether they'd zone out or play the wrong song during a show... Being able to simply hire professional musicians who really wanted the gig, and know they'd do their work? I'd imagine it was really a breath of fresh air.
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Post by kds on Apr 16, 2021 12:39:53 GMT
I think a certain segment of fans tend to extend the period of "shoddy performances" due to the presence of cheerleaders or hula girls that I think lasted through the 1980s. Yes, I think that's true. However, cheerleaders, Billy Hinsche rapping to "Wipe Out", and a less than adventurous setlist aside - the music, the vocals, and the professionalism was consistently good. I think Brian's deterioration and going back to Landy the second time, and Dennis' death the following year, were the turning points. While things were never said publicly, I think it was implied. The Beach Boys had enough of the drugs and alcohol affecting their performances, and just the unprofessional attitude and appearance that the band were getting a reputation for. There was a lot of truth to James Watt's stance. While I think they already started to clean up their act before Dennis passed, I think that's the line of demarcation, Dennis' death. This had to end, and I think Mike, Al, Bruce, and Carl knew it. They were ready to cut the crap and grow up - in their forties. But it's sad that it took the tragedies of Brian and Dennis to shake them up enough to change. I agree with all point. And I think the setlist gripes can be a bit overblown. The Beach Boys definitely weren't the only touring band in the world who toured with pretty basic greatest hits setlists.
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Post by kds on Apr 16, 2021 12:42:18 GMT
I think Mike, Al, and Bruce knew it before then ... they just didn't necessarily have the ability (or will) to do anything about it. I mean, they did something: they occasionally "fired" both Brian and Dennis.
But they were never able to bring those guys back into the band clean and sober (or at least professionally functional, performing at a high level). Which makes sense, especially in Brian's case: it's hard to play hardball with the undisputed best talent in the group, a founding member who also happens to have written and arranged almost everything you're going to play every night.
Once Brian was mostly out and Dennis was dead, it was probably just much easier. Imagine not having to worry about who was going to show up, in what state they were going to show up, whether they'd zone out or play the wrong song during a show... Being able to simply hire professional musicians who really wanted the gig, and know they'd do their work? I'd imagine it was really a breath of fresh air.
I think there's evidence of this on the Knebworth video from 1980. Mike, Al, Bruce, and even Carl (who was a bit of a question mark himself at this time) along with the backing back and doing their best to put on a good show. Then, you've got Brian just sitting there, waiting for this two vocals leads on Surfer Girl and Sloop, and Dennis is stumbling around all over the place between the drums and piano.
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