LP: You both also have a tremendous amount of respect for the music.

DS: We both agree and believe that the music is first and foremost. So, as the relationship has evolved, I became the guy who got into the nuts and bolts of breaking down the music and then running it past Brian. Because you know how Brian is. If you ask him about something — especially details of arrangements — he doesn't want the responsibility to deconstruct and reconstruct the songs. So, nine times out of ten, he'll say he doesn't remember. So I would just transcribe as much as I can, then present it to him and he will then tell me what is wrong.

LP: Is that how you worked out SMiLE?

DS: Without question.

LP: Tell me what the process was like.

DS: Well, there is an overwhelming amount of music with take upon take of each fragment. So, I whittled all that down to the best and most complete takes. Then I loaded them into my iBook and started playing them to Brian. I will be honest with you, at first he was not into doing it at all. Remember, this was emotionally taxing for him back in 1967. So much so, he abandoned it. So, bringing it all back to him was unsettling to say the least.

There is a purity to what he does that has not been diluted by time or substances. ©Sue Levinson.

LP: He didn't even want to hear the music?

DS: Not at that time he didn't, but he knew that he had to. I mean you've seen that in him. He is just that way. He will not want to even perform a show, but once he gets up on stage he loves it and gets off on the experience.

It's like a rollercoaster, ya know. The first hill is very steep and very scary and looming incrementally. Then the rest of the trip is a rush and he pulls it off smoothly. I think it is that initial fear that is so deep within Brian. He'll be pacing around before the show saying he is scared of rejection and we'll tell him, hey there are thousands of folks who paid to see you — they love you. But he'll just say "I know but I'm still scared." So in the end, for me I just do the best I can to break down the music into their respective parts and the same with the vocal harmonies, then run the results past Brian. Then, it is so much easier for Brian when he actually hears it all.

There was a time during the initial SMiLE rehearsals when I would give Brian a stack of lyrics for examples. This was during those earliest vocal rehearsals when he was not wanting to be involved because it was so overwhelming for him. So, he'd take the stack of vocal sheets and we'd barely get through a given song before he would be worried about the next one and the one after that and then the one after that. Having been through this process with him, I know he is thinking "how much more of this is there" and "how long am I going to have to work today?" He just wants to get through it. That is how daunting the task was to him. That is why it is best to do a little at a time with him. The worst thing is to present him with this monumental task that implies a mountain of work.

So, we'd break it down and take so many steps to reach a certain plateau and then build from there. With SMiLE he knew we had to put the entire tangible piece together. He saw that as a huge stack of work and even on a more manageable level, it was daunting.

LP: Yet you had such strong sonic support from the players — did that not help to allay the fears?

DS: We have all grown into our respective roles as to what we each bring to the band. Granted, some have had a great head start in terms of knowing the music intimately.

One example is in the beginning, when I had my initial reservations that maybe some of the guys weren't as well-suited as some others because they were too polished as session players. It was just a job, you play what is on the page, and then punch the clock on the way out. However, that all changed as time has passed.

I'll tell you what it really is, we have all been around Brian and have all grown to really love him, and out of that love comes a deeper, more profound and personalized respect for the man. You can't help but be so moved by his honesty and his humility, he is just so genuine.

I'm a Los Angeles-based musician and have been around a lot of high-profile musicians, industry people, and artist types. All of them are hopefully striving for something that will last and have significance. Some get pretty close and you say, "Wow, that person is really into what they are doing and has a lot of conviction."

Then, you meet someone like Brian who simply blows everyone away in this department, even those who come close. Brian is living his honesty day-by-day; there are absolutely no pretensions. Ever. I mean even the guys who aspire towards that will fall short. We live in modern times. We do the day-to-day things that make us socially aware, we rationalize our every move. We have shame, and develop people skills that make us polite and give us other conventional qualities that make us "adults." Brian on the other hand, just by virtue of being honest and forthright on every level projects a childlike innocence. He is innocent almost to a fault in that way. So much so that he's developed certain defense mechanisms that will pop up. But, you can see right through them because of his unbridled honesty. You know when he is putting you on, he simply can not lie.

LP: There seems to be a purity to what he does that has not been diluted by time or substances.

DS: It is a spiritual triumph to be certain and that translates into how he approaches his craft.