Learn: Home » CrutchfieldAdvisor Presents Brian Wilson's SMiLE
LP: Even with "Good Vibrations" there are a number of different versions. The hit that most people are familiar with is lyrically not the first one he cut. For the album and for the tour, you are going back to the words Tony Asher wrote. Why?
DS: They were the original lyrics and I don't know how that came about. I think somebody may have suggested it. When it came down to recording SMiLE and especially re-recording and revisiting "Good Vibrations," one of the greatest records of all time, what do you do? Well, what you do is hopefully capture the spirit of it. That is why I was totally open to the idea of having different elements to it. Such as having the different lyrics and having the "hum-di-dum" section in the bridge and stuff. Because that way it is something different. We're not trying to match it exactly stroke-for-stroke.
LP: Which is the dichotomous nature of this band, you can play it stroke-for-stroke if that is what is required of the music. Yet, the final result was a contemporary and undeniably relevant musical statement. I recall hearing audience recordings from the six-night debut run at Royal Festival Hall and being amazed at how true the vision had remained from 1967 to 2004. Any thoughts on how you collectively pulled that off?
DS: I don't even really know. I mean, when you are doing it you're just dealing with the task at hand, to just try and do the best we can.
LP: Even when you are in the moment, how do you make something such as "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" anything but far-out and how can you make something like "Wonderful" anything but beautiful? The textures range from the seeming incongruous sound of power tools and hammers hitting wood to lush orchestration within minutes of each other.
DS: Yeah, one of my favorite reviews when we first started performing it described it as "a fine balance of beauty and madness," which I really loved.
LP: But isn't that moment what the title SMiLE and the whole impetus was about for Brian?
DS: I believe it is. It is like when you laugh hysterically, you can't control it, and that concept describes Brian more now than ever. Now, out of the blue he just smiles and this goes back to Brian being so emotionally honest. You can tell if he's faking a smile or if he's feeling really happy and in the moment, like a child. You know how a baby will just smile out of nowhere and you think "why are they smiling?" It's like some good feeling is rushing through them, that's what Brian is like today. Since we finished the album we see much more genuine smiles. He just has that twinkle in his eye.
LP: During this sort of catharsis period or emotional rebirth, when did you see him [Brian] begin to emerge from his dazed and bewildered state into being the driven and focused presence he has become again?
DS: When we were working with Van Dyke, in the fall of 2003, at first Brian was not into it. He'd say "how much more do we have to listen to today?" and that kind of thing. He knew he had all this work to do and he was dealing with whatever emotional pain he felt from simply hearing the music again.
As we took it a song at a time, I'd reassure him that all we were trying to do was to perform the songs. I'd say "you know the band man, we all love you and will do whatever it takes to make this stuff sound great. Brian, I know we can do it." And he'd say "Really? Really?" Because I knew we could do it, but if he didn't want to do it, then we ain't doin' it. So, I was trying to find a way of reassuring him that it can be done.
Once I started putting band members to the different sounds, saying "Paul [Mertens] could play this part and Bob [Lizik] will do this on the bass," then he would start thinking about it in a more modern context. Then when Van Dyke got into the fold, it was great because it became a whole new experience. They were on this creative roll.
We worked for a few weeks. They would have ideas and I'd jot them down or have them recorded on my camcorder. At the end of the day, I'd go home to my keyboard and lay down the sounds and sing the parts. Then when they would have newer ideas, like when they talked about a segue between two songs and how that was going to happen, my job was to get on the keyboard and record those ideas. Then I would bring them back the next day and present it to them. It was something tangible that they could listen to, we could critique, or say "that is one bar too long." That whole period was great. You can see that in the movie; Brian would say, "yeah, this is blowing my mind." He was on a high and he was really into it.
Then we stopped for the holiday break and the next time I saw Brian, he was a mess. I came over with a stack of lyrics so he and I could sit down and start actually going through the lead vocal parts that he would have to perform and he was not happening. I remember him shaking and he sat down and he started crying and yelling "I'm f@#$%! I'm f@#$%!"
I had seen this through cracked doors, but this was the first time it was just him and me. Melinda was off at a meeting and he was really freaking out. So, I said "OK Brian, let's just try and listen to some of this," and he said "OK. OK. OK."
We made it through maybe three songs and in the middle of the song he hurled the lyric sheet all the way across the room and screamed, "AHHHHHHH!!!" Lindsay, it was scary. I mean really scary. I ran down to the housekeeper who was familiar with this stuff happening. She knew it was for real and he was begging her to take him to the hospital and we are still trying to call Melinda. I didn't know what to do and tried to be a calming force. At one point I heard him yelling to me from the other room "Darian! Darian! They are trying to kill me! They are trying to kill me!"
I thought, "maybe until Melinda gets home, I can just sit with him and talk." He was asking me all sorts of questions and he was just scared. He'd say, "Have you ever dropped acid? Do you take drugs? How do you deal with that?" He'd describe this feeling in his chest that he can't get rid of. Man, that was really scary. And then we had to start rehearsing within the next week with the band, mainly the vocalists. That is some of what you see in the film.
I found out later that that incident was part of his seasonal depression, especially now that he is the last Wilson [of his generation] standing. His mom, dad, brothers are all gone. There was that and then there was the reality that we had to do SMiLE for real. There was a concert date set and we have to do this. All that stuff that happened with Van Dyke in the fall when he was in the moment and it was cool and he was happy, well that was gone. It was now time to do this and it was rough. He'd just sit there and it was like we were working without a head. The head was not attached to the body.
DS: They were the original lyrics and I don't know how that came about. I think somebody may have suggested it. When it came down to recording SMiLE and especially re-recording and revisiting "Good Vibrations," one of the greatest records of all time, what do you do? Well, what you do is hopefully capture the spirit of it. That is why I was totally open to the idea of having different elements to it. Such as having the different lyrics and having the "hum-di-dum" section in the bridge and stuff. Because that way it is something different. We're not trying to match it exactly stroke-for-stroke.
LP: Which is the dichotomous nature of this band, you can play it stroke-for-stroke if that is what is required of the music. Yet, the final result was a contemporary and undeniably relevant musical statement. I recall hearing audience recordings from the six-night debut run at Royal Festival Hall and being amazed at how true the vision had remained from 1967 to 2004. Any thoughts on how you collectively pulled that off?
DS: I don't even really know. I mean, when you are doing it you're just dealing with the task at hand, to just try and do the best we can.
LP: Even when you are in the moment, how do you make something such as "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" anything but far-out and how can you make something like "Wonderful" anything but beautiful? The textures range from the seeming incongruous sound of power tools and hammers hitting wood to lush orchestration within minutes of each other.
DS: Yeah, one of my favorite reviews when we first started performing it described it as "a fine balance of beauty and madness," which I really loved.
LP: But isn't that moment what the title SMiLE and the whole impetus was about for Brian?
 ©Sue Levinson. |
DS: I believe it is. It is like when you laugh hysterically, you can't control it, and that concept describes Brian more now than ever. Now, out of the blue he just smiles and this goes back to Brian being so emotionally honest. You can tell if he's faking a smile or if he's feeling really happy and in the moment, like a child. You know how a baby will just smile out of nowhere and you think "why are they smiling?" It's like some good feeling is rushing through them, that's what Brian is like today. Since we finished the album we see much more genuine smiles. He just has that twinkle in his eye.
LP: During this sort of catharsis period or emotional rebirth, when did you see him [Brian] begin to emerge from his dazed and bewildered state into being the driven and focused presence he has become again?
DS: When we were working with Van Dyke, in the fall of 2003, at first Brian was not into it. He'd say "how much more do we have to listen to today?" and that kind of thing. He knew he had all this work to do and he was dealing with whatever emotional pain he felt from simply hearing the music again.
As we took it a song at a time, I'd reassure him that all we were trying to do was to perform the songs. I'd say "you know the band man, we all love you and will do whatever it takes to make this stuff sound great. Brian, I know we can do it." And he'd say "Really? Really?" Because I knew we could do it, but if he didn't want to do it, then we ain't doin' it. So, I was trying to find a way of reassuring him that it can be done.
Once I started putting band members to the different sounds, saying "Paul [Mertens] could play this part and Bob [Lizik] will do this on the bass," then he would start thinking about it in a more modern context. Then when Van Dyke got into the fold, it was great because it became a whole new experience. They were on this creative roll.
We worked for a few weeks. They would have ideas and I'd jot them down or have them recorded on my camcorder. At the end of the day, I'd go home to my keyboard and lay down the sounds and sing the parts. Then when they would have newer ideas, like when they talked about a segue between two songs and how that was going to happen, my job was to get on the keyboard and record those ideas. Then I would bring them back the next day and present it to them. It was something tangible that they could listen to, we could critique, or say "that is one bar too long." That whole period was great. You can see that in the movie; Brian would say, "yeah, this is blowing my mind." He was on a high and he was really into it.
Then we stopped for the holiday break and the next time I saw Brian, he was a mess. I came over with a stack of lyrics so he and I could sit down and start actually going through the lead vocal parts that he would have to perform and he was not happening. I remember him shaking and he sat down and he started crying and yelling "I'm f@#$%! I'm f@#$%!"
I had seen this through cracked doors, but this was the first time it was just him and me. Melinda was off at a meeting and he was really freaking out. So, I said "OK Brian, let's just try and listen to some of this," and he said "OK. OK. OK."
We made it through maybe three songs and in the middle of the song he hurled the lyric sheet all the way across the room and screamed, "AHHHHHHH!!!" Lindsay, it was scary. I mean really scary. I ran down to the housekeeper who was familiar with this stuff happening. She knew it was for real and he was begging her to take him to the hospital and we are still trying to call Melinda. I didn't know what to do and tried to be a calming force. At one point I heard him yelling to me from the other room "Darian! Darian! They are trying to kill me! They are trying to kill me!"
I thought, "maybe until Melinda gets home, I can just sit with him and talk." He was asking me all sorts of questions and he was just scared. He'd say, "Have you ever dropped acid? Do you take drugs? How do you deal with that?" He'd describe this feeling in his chest that he can't get rid of. Man, that was really scary. And then we had to start rehearsing within the next week with the band, mainly the vocalists. That is some of what you see in the film.
I found out later that that incident was part of his seasonal depression, especially now that he is the last Wilson [of his generation] standing. His mom, dad, brothers are all gone. There was that and then there was the reality that we had to do SMiLE for real. There was a concert date set and we have to do this. All that stuff that happened with Van Dyke in the fall when he was in the moment and it was cool and he was happy, well that was gone. It was now time to do this and it was rough. He'd just sit there and it was like we were working without a head. The head was not attached to the body.
