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Post by kds on Sept 3, 2021 14:42:43 GMT
When you look at it, Brian's situation, where he doesn't seem to be able to recapture the ability he once had, isn't too dissimilar from other artists of advancing age, although it seem seem to strike him when he was far younger. That's the tragedy of it to me. Bringing it back to the era in question with this single, you could argue this (say, 1968-73) should have been his prime. The Stones, the Beatles and their members after the breakup, the Who, the CSN&Y guys, and many others of that same era were really at or near the top of their games.
Brian wasn't anymore. Bob Dylan could be argued similarly as having had an unexpected dip/lull. But he came back strong in a way Brian never did. In both cases, it seems external pressures of being "geniuses" (among other things) really affected them. It's almost surprising that John Lennon did a lot of his best work in that era, being similarly spotlighted.
That's true, but John didn't have as many issues as Brian. I do agree, and imagine how good those early 70s BB albums would've been had they had a Brian Wilson firing on all cylinders.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Sept 3, 2021 14:52:50 GMT
And, I agree, too. From post-SMiLE 1967 to 1972, we're talking about five years, and Brian hadn't turned 30 years old yet.
I also want to bring up (again) that I think Brian's choice (or whoever's choice) to move the studio into his home - and to no longer use Sunset, Western, Columbia or whatever - AND TO NO LONGER USE The Wrecking Crew extensively - played a major role in Brian's dwindling creativity, recording process, and work ethic. IMO of course.
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Post by kds on Sept 3, 2021 14:59:19 GMT
And, I agree, too. From post-SMiLE 1967 to 1972, we're talking about five years, and Brian hadn't turned 30 years old yet.
I also want to bring up (again) that I think Brian's choice (or whoever's choice) to move the studio into his home - and to no longer use Sunset, Western, Columbia or whatever - AND TO NO LONGER USE The Wrecking Crew extensively - played a major role in Brian's dwindling creativity, recording process, and work ethic. IMO of course. Another good argument against working from home.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 3, 2021 15:00:57 GMT
I also want to bring up (again) that I think Brian's choice (or whoever's choice) to move the studio into his home - and to no longer use Sunset, Western, Columbia or whatever - AND TO NO LONGER USE The Wrecking Crew extensively - played a major role in Brian's dwindling creativity, recording process, and work ethic. IMO of course. I think that's one of those circular things. The pressure of having to be ready for those expensive and time-consuming productions must have been unbelievable. You need to plan out what you want to do, who you want to do it, etc., and that's not easy--even if you know the song you're going to do. Arrangements are hard. Production choices are hard. And all of this costs a lot of money.
But does relieving that pressure help in the long run? Or just lower expectations and standards?
It's easy in hindsight and I'm not being judgmental at all. But I think we know more about mental illness and substance abuse now, obviously. Catering to what, say, a depressed person feels is best for him is not necessarily what is actually best for him. To simplify it, "I'm scared of X" should not be met with "then let's ensure you never experience X." In fact, the healthiest solution is controlled exposure to X.
With perfect hindsight, if people had the knowledge of treatment we have now, imagine if Brian's treatment could have included a focus on continued professionalism, along with appropriate therapy and hopefully a healthier understanding and use of drugs. Rather than making it easier for Brian to behave how he was behaving, to have helped him see how he could instead continue more productively.
Easy for an armchair therapist, of course. And in reality we probably ought to be glad he lived through it all, to say nothing of continuing to make music.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Sept 3, 2021 20:27:34 GMT
I also want to bring up (again) that I think Brian's choice (or whoever's choice) to move the studio into his home - and to no longer use Sunset, Western, Columbia or whatever - AND TO NO LONGER USE The Wrecking Crew extensively - played a major role in Brian's dwindling creativity, recording process, and work ethic. IMO of course. I think that's one of those circular things. The pressure of having to be ready for those expensive and time-consuming productions must have been unbelievable. You need to plan out what you want to do, who you want to do it, etc., and that's not easy--even if you know the song you're going to do. Arrangements are hard. Production choices are hard. And all of this costs a lot of money. I wonder if it could've or would've worked the other way, that is, actually taking some pressure OFF of Brian. I'm guessing that Brian was not "fleshing out" songs entirely and maybe not finishing them as early as 1968. We also know that The Wrecking Crew's individual musicians directly contributed to some BB songs' arrangements as early as 1964-65. There are stories of musicians saying to Brian, "Hey, what if we try this...", and Brian acquiescing. If Brian was "losing it a little", maybe not being as creative, maybe not coming up with as many arrangements - I can't think of better people to assist than a Carol Kaye or Hal Blaine or Tommy Tedesco or Don Randi or Steve Douglas or any of them. As it turned out, Brian depended on the Beach Boys to finish a lot of his stuff, especially Carl, who, God bless him, did the best he could. Again, maybe Brian would've seen the songs through to fruition if he was in a different environment than listening through the bedroom floorboards and coming down to the studio stoned.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 3, 2021 20:39:34 GMT
I think I disagree about using the players, and this is why: it's one thing to get ideas from them, and I'm sure each of these great players had plenty. But the whole issue of being the producer or arranger or bandleader all amounts to the same thing, especially in this case, which is being in charge of the executive decisions.
I don't mean by "executive" anything about going to business meetings all the time or whatever, I mean having executive authority. Being the guy to decide what's going to happen, who's going to do it, how it's going to work. Even getting ideas from the peanut gallery, somebody has to agree ("yeah, that would fit here perfectly! Everybody, we're doing this.") or disagree ("Cool lick, but it doesn't really fit because we're going to do this vocal overdub that would be dissonant."). Somebody has to be the boss.
You can be the boss of a four-piece garage band doing simple songs. You can be the boss of a 16-piece band of expert session musicians to be overdubbed by a six-person vocal harmony group in a massive production of ornate songs. You can be the boss of anything in between, or even beyond. But somebody has to be the boss or it's a mess, and whoever that is, is going to have (and presumably feel) pressure..
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Post by lonelysummer on Sept 4, 2021 2:01:46 GMT
My take on Brian is, when he was in his prime, he had the focus to get an idea, flesh it out, and see it through to completion. Whether he had the help of the other Beach Boys or Wrecking Crew or whoever is beside the point; Brian had the drive and motivation to see it through from start to finish. In later years, he would still get song ideas, but often need someone else to do something with them; and same thing in the studio. He might have the energy to get it started, but to see it through until it's completed, perfected, that Brian wasn't there anymore. That was 15BO and Love You sound the way they do. That's why his solo career has been the way it's been. Brian's inspiration comes and goes; he needs someone else to finish these things for him, whether it's Carl, Joe Thomas, Andy Paley...whoever.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 6, 2021 11:24:16 GMT
Ten voters rated "Surf's Up" b/w "Don't Go Near the Water" an average score of 9.0. I'll update the ratings thread and launch our next single shortly.
Thanks for participating.
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