65. A biography in ten albums - parts 3 & 4

3.Beach Boys –Pet Sounds (Capitol 1966)

 

My copy of the 1990 cd reissue of 'Pet Sounds'

 

I first heard of this album in 1988 on Capitol Gold when it was the featured album of the day one Sunday. I finally brought a copy on Vinyl in a local Our Price in Streatham with a voucher I received for my 18^th birthday (from a friend called Angela- thank you Angela!) in 1990. I played the album regularly while at University between 1991-1994, and it became a favourite.  I sold this vinyl copy in 1997 after I brought the album on CD. Even though this was a favourite album, it took a few years for me to fully appreciate it (I was a bit distracted by the Smile album sessions- more of which anon) but when I did….

However over the last six or so years this has become my favourite album. It may well be to do with the fact that this album works so well on my regular trips to Dublin and suits the beautiful Irish countryside and sea side at Skerries like no other music. It is therefore linked for me with a place of great beauty and peace for me. Pet Sounds is inextricably linked for me with my regular trips to Dublin, and my hope to eventually make a home there.

Of course, it may also be due to the fact I have seen Brian perform this live. I saw him perform it twice in 2002 when he first came to the UK and the thrill of revelation was unequalled to any live concert I have ever been to.  Brian and his band did not try to exactly replicate the record but managed to interpret it anew.  I also saw him perform it in 2006, as part of the album’s 40^th anniversary celebration.

My favourite song on this album by some distance is ‘Don’t talk, put your head on my shoulder’. This is such a heartbreakingly tender song. As I wrote about Brian in my blog post about him, he offers a more gentle and affectionate model of masculinity in his music and song is for me is a prime example of this.  I have read that Carole Kaye’s bass line on this echoes Brian’s request to “listen to  my heart”- answering each time he softly sings “listen”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gikGLzkKElw

Beach Boys- ‘Don’t talk, put your head on my shoulder’ uploaded by unknown360D

This film explains the evolution of this gorgeous song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIETb-6n1M8

Behind the Sounds- ‘Don’t talk’ – Uploaded by Behind the sounds

I think no other song sums up my life like ‘I guess I just wasn’t made for these times’. I frequently reflect on the line  ‘They say I got brains, but they ain’t doing me no good’. It sad to reflect this song accurately reflects Brian’s sense of isolation and dislocation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyhU2mVyFAk

Beach Boys ‘I guess I just wasn’t made for these times’- uploaded by witheyesclosed

This is perhaps the only album I would argue deserves its own box set. I did eventually buy this box set about five years ago and it was worth it for all the out-takes and alternative versions. I particularly love Brian’s piano demo of ‘Don’t talk, put your head on my shoulder’

I listen to this album every day on the commute into work.  I sometimes listen to it twice a day. I never once have grown tired of the album and get actual withdrawal symptoms. Listening to this album each day is like a promise to myself.

4. The Beach Boys The Smile sessions (Capitol 2011)

 

My copy of 'The Smile Sessions'

 

Now this is a complex one as it involves three different albums (so consider this post covering all three of them)!  I was first introduced to this via a bootleg cassette I brought at University in about 1992 (this was a tape of the 1990 Japanese Single CD bootleg). I was a fan of the Pet Sounds album. I had heard of the Smile sessions and was keen to find out. It was a bootleg cassette of the Smile Sessions that turned me into a die-hard Brian Wilson fan.  I absolutely fell in love with the fragments I heard.  I particularly loved the vocal line from ‘Wonderful’ and this is possibly my favourite track from the sessions. I loved ‘Wind-chimes’ and the out-takes from ‘Surfs up’ including Brian’s piano demo. One track that I liked but which has gone up in my estimation over 20 years is the track called ‘Holiday’ on this bootleg, but which was actually called ‘Look’ and which was called ‘Song for children’ on the completed 2004 version! (more of which anon!). I think it is House Music almost 20 years before it became popular!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU4CsQXzN1o

Beach Boys- Look/Song for children – uploaded by Smile 892001

In 1995 I listened to a radio documentary about Smile featuring Brian and Van Dyke Parks, which included some wonderful out-takes. I got Smiley-Smile (along with Wild Honey) on CD for my birthday that year after hearing this documentary, thinking it included these out-takes. All I can sayis  I was somewhat disappointed! I persuaded my Dad to get the Beach Boys Good Vibrations box set for me from the USA as it included half an hour of Smile out-takes including ‘Wind-Chimes’, ‘Wonderful’ and ‘Surfs up’. I was very glad to own these legally! In early 1996 I got the CD of Friends & 20/20 which to my absolute delight included the completed version of Cabinessence (just glorious- I prefer this to Heroes and Villains, Surfs up and even Good Vibrations)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOAUroLJnRc

Beach Boys- Cabinessence – Uploaded by Smile892011

I even brought Domenic Priore’s legendary book ‘Listen, look, vibrate smile!’ which tried to reconstruct the story of Smile and what it would have been like if completed. Domenic Priore is friends with Darian Sahanaja and their many hours listening to Smile bootlegs would eventually reap rich rewards when Darian was asked by Brian to help him create a completed piece of music based on the out-takes in 2003.

I managed to download further out-takes on Napster in around 2000 (remember Napster?) I apologies to my parents for the cost as this was pre- broadband! I managed to download gems such as ‘whispering winds’, ‘Earth song’ (no not that one!) and ‘I want to be around’

Now I have to admit that listening to these out-takes does evoke bitter sweet feelings. While I love this music with all its inventiveness and expansiveness, it is impossible not to dwell on the enormous cost its creation had on Brian. I do not buy into the myth that the Smile album caused Brian to finally loose his sanity. But it is clear that there were many issues around the creation of his music which lead to Brian withdrawing not just from the Beach Boys and ultimately the music industry. It also withdrawing further into himself and that its failure to be completed further exacerbated his existing mental health issues. It is important that what happened to Brian is not romanticised or viewed as 'cool'.

The only bright point for me in 2003 was Brian’s announcement that he planned to complete the Smile music and perform it in London in January 2004 at the Royal Albert Hall. I did not attend the actual premiere but did attend the second night. It was one of the most transcendental spiritual experiences of my life and I was enraptured to know how all these fragments I loved finally came together. I think if anything seeing Brian and his band perform the piece the second time in June 2004 was even more transcendental.

You can imagine how pleased I was when it was announced Brian and his band were recording this completed version of ‘Smile’. This was released as ‘Brian Wilson presents Smile’ in September 2004. I brought it on the day of release and for almost two years I had ‘Our prayer’ (the opening track on the album) as the piece of music I woke up to each morning.  This album is not Smile as it would have been in 1967 (it is not claiming to be) but is an astonishing piece of work in itself. It garnered high critical acclaim.

As Brian wrote himself this looked like the end of the story. Not so! To the amazement of seasoned Brian fans like myself, in 2011 it was announced that Brian was working on a boxed set of the Smile Sessions. This got released as a two CD set with a completed version of ‘Smile’ based on the 2004 version and various out-takes and a five CD box set with extra goodies. My budget did not stretch to the five CD box set but I am more than happy with the 2 CD set. Apart from my own delight at being legally able to own these astonishing pieces of music legally (and Brian finally getting royalties!) it is wonderful to know that Brian has been able to have resolution to this painful part of his life and got to see for himself that this music has spoken so deeply to many people, especially other musicians. He has won through eventually. This music still has the power to surprise and delight me.

As an aside the packaging of both 'Brian Wilson Presents Smile' and 'The Smile Sessions' are exemplary.