Learn: Home » CrutchfieldAdvisor Presents Brian Wilson's SMiLE
LP: That leads me to methodology of how Brian approached his past. We spoke about the small doses or short stacks of work that allow him not to be overwhelmed. Was the approach the same when he collaborated with Van Dyke Parks on the new musical links and overall completion of what we hear on the album and on the stage? The documentary Beautiful Dreamer touches on this with the fly-on-the-wall home movies of that initial meeting between Brian, Van Dyke, and you.
DS: I'll level with you — the reason that footage existed to begin with was because the only portable recording device I had at the time was my mini video camera. I only really needed it to document audio. . . to document the sounds and musical ideas. But I don't own an audio recorder and this camera has a decent microphone — 90% of the footage is of my shoe, the floor and maybe Van Dyke's knee. But when David Leaf was working on Beautiful Dreamer he asked me if there was any video footage of us working. I told him I'd go and look, but anticipated most of it would just be of the carpet. So, when I reviewed what I had, there were a few snippets that were usable and they ended up in the documentary.
LP: Which lends itself perfectly to this documentary style.
DS: I guess it does. I mean, I just saw the movie for the first time last night and it never occurred to me at the time. I was thinking, "Geez, I wish I had a better angle," when I saw it. But, see, when you're working you don't want to be intrusive at all.
LP: What was it like working with Van Dyke Parks?
DS: Whew! Man. Well, I just saw him again last week at the CMJ panel discussion . . . anyway, he is from another era. What a gem of a human being.
LP: I always considered his aura as a 21st Century Mark Twain.
DS: Right on, totally. He is so eloquent and there again is an example of another iconoclast who was into his own thing. I was sort of worried that they [Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson] were both gonna be weirded out by revisiting this. Maybe they were both feeling as if they were past that point in their lives when they could no longer identify with where they were in 1967. I noticed it when they got together for the first time — well, let's be clear, he came because Brian asked him.
LP: Just like in 1967.
DS: Exactly. I found out somewhat later that Van Dyke was also very wary of what was going on. He was concerned about what was happening to their music.
LP: Because of past experience dealing with The Beach Boys' camp?
DS: Yes. But, see, you talk to him now and he is so relieved. That was a word that he used over and over when we were working. He'd say, "I have such a sense of relief . . . this is such a relief!" And I really didn't understand what he meant at the time because all I wanted to do was just to respect the integrity of what they were doing. That was my primary concern and focus. I'd sort of take notes and at that juncture, all we wanted was to perform it live.
So, my role was to try and facilitate their ideas. They wrote the notes and words and I just figured out what was feasible within the context of our band, the voices, and instrumentation. We'd review a piece or a link for instance. I'd play it from my iBook, they would hear it. Brian might hum the melody line and then the next day Van Dyke would come back with the lyrics. I never questioned if they were new or vintage. He would just come in scratching his head saying, "Here is an idea I had about this and that and how it could connect here or there."
LP: How about the lyrical tag at the end of "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow?"
DS: Now, at the time, that seemed to me to have been a brand new idea, although the concept was something that he [Van Dyke Parks] had always wanted to express. It was important to Van Dyke that this be a moment of cleansing and it was extremely important that it be the voice of Brian Wilson.
LP: There are a couple of sections and even some completed songs that were introduced as part of the SMiLE-era canon. We obviously can't say they were meant for SMiLE, since it did not tangibly exist. But for instance, why was "He Gives Speeches" left off?
DS: I have no idea. It was one of the tracks that I played to Brian and he just said "Nah, junk that, I don't want it." I didn't question it any further. I liken it to a cinematic director filming a bunch of scenes for a movie and there is going to be some stuff left on the cutting room floor. That's how I looked at it.
LP: Is the same thing true of the "rock with me Henry" lyrics to the song "Wonderful?"
DS: Again, I played that for Brian and he didn't like that either. That was probably yet another variation and a lot of the SMiLE music really is a lot a variation of themes. "Wind Chimes" has all sorts of recurring different variations — it was just where Brian's head was at the time. He sort of, without knowing it, created this new modular approach to recording with "Good Vibrations."
He just wanted to try different grooves, different instrumentation, and different tempos. It was maybe one idea and he'd go over it and over it and spend a whole day just working on a riff. Then the next day, he'd come in and work on another riff.
And it was like that for "Heroes And Villains," "Wind Chimes," and "Vega-Tables," and any host of the songs. They would cut variations of it in hopes that Brian would put it all together in a way that made sense. However, he wasn't able to do that back then.
DS: I'll level with you — the reason that footage existed to begin with was because the only portable recording device I had at the time was my mini video camera. I only really needed it to document audio. . . to document the sounds and musical ideas. But I don't own an audio recorder and this camera has a decent microphone — 90% of the footage is of my shoe, the floor and maybe Van Dyke's knee. But when David Leaf was working on Beautiful Dreamer he asked me if there was any video footage of us working. I told him I'd go and look, but anticipated most of it would just be of the carpet. So, when I reviewed what I had, there were a few snippets that were usable and they ended up in the documentary.
 ©Mathew Lock |
LP: Which lends itself perfectly to this documentary style.
DS: I guess it does. I mean, I just saw the movie for the first time last night and it never occurred to me at the time. I was thinking, "Geez, I wish I had a better angle," when I saw it. But, see, when you're working you don't want to be intrusive at all.
LP: What was it like working with Van Dyke Parks?
DS: Whew! Man. Well, I just saw him again last week at the CMJ panel discussion . . . anyway, he is from another era. What a gem of a human being.
LP: I always considered his aura as a 21st Century Mark Twain.
DS: Right on, totally. He is so eloquent and there again is an example of another iconoclast who was into his own thing. I was sort of worried that they [Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson] were both gonna be weirded out by revisiting this. Maybe they were both feeling as if they were past that point in their lives when they could no longer identify with where they were in 1967. I noticed it when they got together for the first time — well, let's be clear, he came because Brian asked him.
LP: Just like in 1967.
DS: Exactly. I found out somewhat later that Van Dyke was also very wary of what was going on. He was concerned about what was happening to their music.
LP: Because of past experience dealing with The Beach Boys' camp?
DS: Yes. But, see, you talk to him now and he is so relieved. That was a word that he used over and over when we were working. He'd say, "I have such a sense of relief . . . this is such a relief!" And I really didn't understand what he meant at the time because all I wanted to do was just to respect the integrity of what they were doing. That was my primary concern and focus. I'd sort of take notes and at that juncture, all we wanted was to perform it live.
So, my role was to try and facilitate their ideas. They wrote the notes and words and I just figured out what was feasible within the context of our band, the voices, and instrumentation. We'd review a piece or a link for instance. I'd play it from my iBook, they would hear it. Brian might hum the melody line and then the next day Van Dyke would come back with the lyrics. I never questioned if they were new or vintage. He would just come in scratching his head saying, "Here is an idea I had about this and that and how it could connect here or there."
LP: How about the lyrical tag at the end of "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow?"
DS: Now, at the time, that seemed to me to have been a brand new idea, although the concept was something that he [Van Dyke Parks] had always wanted to express. It was important to Van Dyke that this be a moment of cleansing and it was extremely important that it be the voice of Brian Wilson.
LP: There are a couple of sections and even some completed songs that were introduced as part of the SMiLE-era canon. We obviously can't say they were meant for SMiLE, since it did not tangibly exist. But for instance, why was "He Gives Speeches" left off?
DS: I have no idea. It was one of the tracks that I played to Brian and he just said "Nah, junk that, I don't want it." I didn't question it any further. I liken it to a cinematic director filming a bunch of scenes for a movie and there is going to be some stuff left on the cutting room floor. That's how I looked at it.
LP: Is the same thing true of the "rock with me Henry" lyrics to the song "Wonderful?"
DS: Again, I played that for Brian and he didn't like that either. That was probably yet another variation and a lot of the SMiLE music really is a lot a variation of themes. "Wind Chimes" has all sorts of recurring different variations — it was just where Brian's head was at the time. He sort of, without knowing it, created this new modular approach to recording with "Good Vibrations."
He just wanted to try different grooves, different instrumentation, and different tempos. It was maybe one idea and he'd go over it and over it and spend a whole day just working on a riff. Then the next day, he'd come in and work on another riff.
And it was like that for "Heroes And Villains," "Wind Chimes," and "Vega-Tables," and any host of the songs. They would cut variations of it in hopes that Brian would put it all together in a way that made sense. However, he wasn't able to do that back then.
