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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 1643 Jack Rieley's comments & Surf's Up « on: December 01, 2010, 11:04:31 PM » Hey guys I remember reading a long q&a with Jack Rieley, searching through old threads only brings up broken links so I was hoping somebody knew where I could read it again. I only ask because I'm developing a real fondness for the Surf's Up album and I wanted to read up on it.



That album is great by the way, for the longest time I could never get through the first 30 seconds of Don't Go Near The Water but now I adore it. Feel free to share any thoughts on that album while we're at it. Logged TEAM COHEN; OFFICIAL CAPTAIN (2013-)

punkinhead



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what it means to be human





Smiley Smile AssociateGender:Posts: 4506what it means to be human Re: Jack Rieley's comments & Surf's Up « Reply #1 on: December 01, 2010, 11:12:20 PM » Quote from: Fishmonk on December 01, 2010, 11:04:31 PM Hey guys I remember reading a long q&a with Jack Rieley, searching through old threads only brings up broken links so I was hoping somebody knew where I could read it again. I only ask because I'm developing a real fondness for the Surf's Up album and I wanted to read up on it.



That album is great by the way, for the longest time I could never get through the first 30 seconds of Don't Go Near The Water but now I adore it. Feel free to share any thoughts on that album while we're at it.



Ahhhh, thus, a perfect example as to why I print out the things I print about the BB.





I however don't have this, I just wanted to show a sample of how my printing out articles/interviews/blogs/message board discussions is completely legit and not wasteful.

Ahhhh, thus, a perfect example as to why I print out the things I print about the BB.I however don't have this, I just wanted to show a sample of how my printing out articles/interviews/blogs/message board discussions is completely legit and not wasteful. Logged



"Someone needs to tell Adrian Baker that imitation isn't innovation." -The Real Beach Boy



~post of the century~

"Well, you reached out to me too, David, and I'd be more than happy to fill Bgas's shoes. You don't need him anyway - some of us have the same items in our collections as he does and we're also much better writers. Spoiled brat....."

-Mikie



"in this online beach boy community, I've found that you're either correct or corrected. Which in my mind is all in good fun to show ones knowledge of their favorite band."- punkinhead To view my video documentation of my Beach Boys collection go to www.youtube.com/justinplank "Someone needs to tell Adrian Baker that imitation isn't innovation." -The Real Beach Boy~post of the century~"Well, you reached out to me too, David, and I'd be more than happy to fill Bgas's shoes. You don't need him anyway - some of us have the same items in our collections as he does and we're also much better writers. Spoiled brat....."-Mikie"in this online beach boy community, I've found that you're either correct or corrected. Which in my mind is all in good fun to show ones knowledge of their favorite band."- punkinhead

Dunderhead



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 1643 Re: Jack Rieley's comments & Surf's Up « Reply #2 on: December 01, 2010, 11:15:50 PM » Quote from: punkinhead on December 01, 2010, 11:12:20 PM Quote from: Fishmonk on December 01, 2010, 11:04:31 PM Hey guys I remember reading a long q&a with Jack Rieley, searching through old threads only brings up broken links so I was hoping somebody knew where I could read it again. I only ask because I'm developing a real fondness for the Surf's Up album and I wanted to read up on it.



That album is great by the way, for the longest time I could never get through the first 30 seconds of Don't Go Near The Water but now I adore it. Feel free to share any thoughts on that album while we're at it.



Ahhhh, thus, a perfect example as to why I print out the things I print about the BB.





I however don't have this, I just wanted to show a sample of how my printing out articles/interviews/blogs/message board discussions is completely legit and not wasteful.



Ahhhh, thus, a perfect example as to why I print out the things I print about the BB.I however don't have this, I just wanted to show a sample of how my printing out articles/interviews/blogs/message board discussions is completely legit and not wasteful.

You tease. You tease. Logged TEAM COHEN; OFFICIAL CAPTAIN (2013-)

Myk Luhv



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"...and I said, 'Oatmeal? Are you crazy?!'"





Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 1350"...and I said, 'Oatmeal? Are you crazy?!'" Re: Jack Rieley's comments & Surf's Up « Reply #3 on: December 02, 2010, 06:35:33 AM » On the other hand, you could also just save the text in a document on your computer. That is infinitely less wasteful and is also accessible. Logged

bgas



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Oh for the good old days





Smiley Smile AssociateGender:Posts: 6372Oh for the good old days Re: Jack Rieley's comments & Surf's Up « Reply #4 on: December 02, 2010, 08:54:11 AM » Quote from: Midnight Special on December 02, 2010, 06:35:33 AM On the other hand, you could also just save the text in a document on your computer. That is infinitely less wasteful and is also accessible.



Presuming of course that you constantly back up all your saved info, in case your computer crashes; so you don't lose it all when it does.

I know, I've lost it.

If he wants to save boxes of paper printouts, I say go for it. Do you index and cross-index them, so you can find things quickly? Presuming of course that you constantly back up all your saved info, in case your computer crashes; so you don't lose it all when it does.I know, I've lost it.If he wants to save boxes of paper printouts, I say go for it. Do you index and cross-index them, so you can find things quickly? Logged Nothing I post is my opinion, it's all a message from God

punkinhead



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Smiley Smile AssociateGender:Posts: 4506what it means to be human Re: Jack Rieley's comments & Surf's Up « Reply #9 on: December 02, 2010, 01:50:59 PM » Quote from: bgas on December 02, 2010, 08:54:11 AM Quote from: Midnight Special on December 02, 2010, 06:35:33 AM On the other hand, you could also just save the text in a document on your computer. That is infinitely less wasteful and is also accessible.



Presuming of course that you constantly back up all your saved info, in case your computer crashes; so you don't lose it all when it does.

I know, I've lost it.

If he wants to save boxes of paper printouts, I say go for it. Do you index and cross-index them, so you can find things quickly?

Presuming of course that you constantly back up all your saved info, in case your computer crashes; so you don't lose it all when it does.I know, I've lost it.If he wants to save boxes of paper printouts, I say go for it. Do you index and cross-index them, so you can find things quickly?

Well, what started as one file: the Smile File...turned into another separate file (both very thick I might add). It is some order, mostly chronologically by printout or by album.

Regardless, it needs straightening up Well, what started as one file: the Smile File...turned into another separate file (both very thick I might add). It is some order, mostly chronologically by printout or by album.Regardless, it needs straightening up Logged



"Someone needs to tell Adrian Baker that imitation isn't innovation." -The Real Beach Boy



~post of the century~

"Well, you reached out to me too, David, and I'd be more than happy to fill Bgas's shoes. You don't need him anyway - some of us have the same items in our collections as he does and we're also much better writers. Spoiled brat....."

-Mikie



"in this online beach boy community, I've found that you're either correct or corrected. Which in my mind is all in good fun to show ones knowledge of their favorite band."- punkinhead To view my video documentation of my Beach Boys collection go to www.youtube.com/justinplank "Someone needs to tell Adrian Baker that imitation isn't innovation." -The Real Beach Boy~post of the century~"Well, you reached out to me too, David, and I'd be more than happy to fill Bgas's shoes. You don't need him anyway - some of us have the same items in our collections as he does and we're also much better writers. Spoiled brat....."-Mikie"in this online beach boy community, I've found that you're either correct or corrected. Which in my mind is all in good fun to show ones knowledge of their favorite band."- punkinhead

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Smiley Smile AssociateGender:Posts: 1158 Re: Jack Rieley's comments & Surf's Up « Reply #13 on: December 15, 2010, 06:44:39 AM » luckily for me i had these printed out and not in the house when it went up in flames.

if nobody beats me to this, i guess i can find a friend to scan these and upload them... Logged

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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 171 Re: Jack Rieley's comments & Surf's Up « Reply #15 on: December 15, 2010, 08:29:11 AM »



(Posting it in four parts, as it WAY exceeds the maximum allowed length.)



******************************************************



Subject: what's the deal here?

From: Jack Rieley

To: Beach Boys list (

Date: Oct 4 1996 - 3:20pm



Historical society? Trivia collectors? Freaks? Musicologists?



It would be helpful to know, first off, what this list is all about.



- Jack Rieley



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: thankz for the explanation

From: Jack Rieley

To: Beach Boys list (

Date: Oct 4 1996 - 7:46pm



Appreciate the intro to your list.



Briefly,



- I got involved with them because I believed then, as I do today,

that Brian Wilson is the greatest composer of this century. At the

same time, having seen their absurd, hideous live show

(string-of-hits, striped shirts, bullshit), I felt it criminal to see

how the group so misrepresented / ignored / negated / yeah, even

violated that unfuckinbelievably gorgeous music. So I was determined

to change things.



- Have never read a Beach Boys book or article since leaving the zoo.

Friends have asked me to, warned me not to, begged me to, etc. Also

have not ever granted interviews to anyone writing those books.



- I listen to today's music 90 percent of the time, which does not

include the Beach Boys. When I have the occasion to hear Brian

Wilson's music of the period from shortly after the beginning through

about '74, I am enchanted.



- Carl Wilson has, for my money, one of the greatest fuckin voices

ever recorded. He is also an incredible songwriter when he is

inspired.



- Still today I miss Dennis very much. Very very much.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: RE: thoughts on what Jack R. said....

From: Jack Rieley

To: Beach Boys list (

Date: Oct 6 1996 - 4:44pm



okay, on to your comments/questions...



you wish someone would do today what i did and change things for

them. kewl. i haven't a clue what they are currently doing on stage.

i dropped the string-o-hits bullshit in favor of a 2-hour concert

that included the then-current songs, stretched-out lesser-known

jewels, etc. in that period i had them save the surfing schtick for

the encores.



You ask...



> I'm curious - I don't know much about your involvement with the

> BB's (except that you were, what, a manager, for them in the early

> 70'?), but I know that some of their most-respected work

> (Sunflower, Surf's Up, Holland) were created while you were

> around.... Have they asked you, ever, to come back...? Why did you

> leave, or were you asked to leave? (Okay, all, now I'm showing my

> ignorance...).



My only involvement with Sunflower was as a consumer. Pleased you

like Surf's Up and Holland. I tried to leave the group when Holland

was finished, because I chose not to return to the U.S. -- wanted

instead to live in The Netherlands. They insisted I should run things

from Amsterdam, a ridiculous pseudo-solution because of the distance

involved and the day-to-day need for up-close interaction with BW, CW

and DW. When Carl ran into domestic tumult and I wasn't around, he

felt let down. I did return on several quick occasions at the request

of Brian, Carl and Dennis. Also came back to help the family upon

Murry's death (wow, that was a weird week). Eventually it became

clear to them that I had lost interest in being zookeeper.



You asked as well why I have gave interviews for the books about the

group. It was partly because of an overdose of confidentiality I felt

toward them for a long, long time. Living in Europe, as I did until 2

years ago, also gave me a healthy dose of disdain for the

breathless-supermarket-style of writing that passes as research and

journalism here. From what I have been told, the true story of Brian,

Carl and Dennis Wilson and those other guys has certainly not been

written yet.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: thoughts on what Jack R. said....

From: Jack Rieley

To: Beach Boys list (

Date: Oct 7 1996 - 11:32am



You wrote:



> Okay, now we're getting somewhere. So Jack Rieley, what do you

> think of _Stars & Stripes_?



Have only heard it once. Don't plan to listen again.



> My question: were the Beach Boys surviving doing things that way?

> Did they chuck critical respectability to pay the bills, or just

> to *increase* the profit?



Neither one or the other. The Beach Boys has been a bitter power

struggle since shortly after the beginning. Brian Wilson, Dennis

Wilson and Carl Wilson represented the creative side: the appeal to

musical beauty and romance and funk and get-down and freakz/fanz;

Love, Jardine and Johnston represented unbridled commercialism and

power. Before I got there, Love, Jardine and Johnston had control.

Because Brian or Dennis often didn't bother to show up for meetings,

the vote was general 2-3 against them.



When I arrived and changed the group's direction, it signaled a

change in the power-center as well. With the backing of Brian, Dennis

and Carl, I fired Johnston, who had stymied the group's creative

cohesiveness. At the same time I encouraged the Wilsons to act as a

unit. Votes shifted to 3-2.



Interestingly, Beach Boys record and live revenues soared in that

period, having suffered heavily in the period that ended with the

sales debacles 20/20 and Sunflower.



Upon my departure, the Wilsons went back to disarray. Carl was going

through terrible domestic problems. Dennis was having a divorce.

Brian adjusted poorly to life back in Belair after his highly

creative, physically positive (he rode a bicycle daily and lost

weight) stay in The Netherlands.



Love and Jardine saw the hole in their armour and rammed through to

renewed supremacy. Their musical/ideological vision of the Beach Boys

was totally different from that represented during my period there.

Love's bitter resentment of Brian's musical genius and his newly

re-won power meant it was back to shuck and jive. Within a year the

Beach Boys had returned to the state they were in before I came

along, but with revenues built upon those generated during the Surfs

Up, So Tough, Holland, Live In Concert period.



Could this have been prevented? The Wilsons should have determined my

successor. They did not.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: Re: Thanks, Jack!/"Tree" song question

From: Jack Rieley

To: Beach Boys list (

Date: Oct 7 1996 - 6:17pm



You wrote:



> My first question would be: how about telling us what really went

> on with that wonderful "Tree" song! I know some people on the list

> have mentioned they don't like it, but some others, like me have

> said they love the song and couldn't imagine anyone else singing

> it and giving it the same feeling that you did. Any recollections

> other than the "Brian was crying afterward -- and I don't know if

> he really was moved by it or just giving me the business"

> (paraphrased), would really be welcome.



Brian Wilson and I had been talking a lot about the sorry state of

the planet back then. He was filled with questions and we went on for

hours about it. Forests were dying, the air had turned brown, the

earth's future was beginning to appear hazardous to health. When

Brian first played the chords and sang the tentative melody for me,

he asked what the song should be about and I suggested a single tree

as metaphor for the earth; that single tree as metaphor for more than

ecology. I fell in love with the chords at once and loved the

swelling tension of that droned bass line; the song seemed to lend

itself to the lyrical concept. He went nuts for the lyrics when I

showed them to him. Loved 'em, memorized the first verse and was

singing around the house. Carl and I were positive that Brian had to

sing A Day In The Life Of A Tree.



We recorded the instrumental track in a few days. On the day we were

to record the lead vocal, I was with the engineer in the control room

(this was in Belair, at the Bellagio house) and Brian was in the

studio. He did a few warm-up takes and then, dramatically animated as

was in wont, tore the headphones from his ears and exclaimed that he

needed me to help him. I went out into the studio and he pleaded that

he just wasn't getting the feeling that I intended with the lyric.

"Show me what I'm supposed to do," he insisted, handing me the

headphones as he ran to the control booth.



I did about 5 takes of the song, all except for the false-setto bit

near the end. Each time I screwed up one part or another, and after

each take Brian used the talkback to inform me something like, "I see

what you mean. But how about the blah-blah part. Do another take so

I'll know just how to do the song." And dumb me: I did another take.



It was after one of those that Brian burst from the control booth to

the studio, laughing loudly, a proclamatory laugh. He rushed me like

a bear, raised both arms into the air as would a victorious high

school athletics coach and exclaimed that I had just done the final

lead vocal!



I protested. It was turing into another BW cop-out, I suspected. But

by then Carl was there too. He said Brian had told him a couple of

days previous that I had to sing Tree. It had all been cooked in

advance.



To my astonishment, the false-setto bit turned out easy. After Van

Dyke's bit, the added voice at the end is Linda Jardine.

Reports of Brian crying, with joy or otherwise, upon hearing my vocal

are bullshit.



You wrote:



> Really enjoy your lyrics, also. Did you write songs before you got

> involved with the Boys, and did you write any songs after?



Not much before. Since then I have.



As to "Smile," I certainly have a something to say about that, but

must save it for another time. Suffice it to say, the "Smile" tapes

as they are reportedly being circulated are not exactly kosher.



Regards,



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: FW: Jack Rieley on Dennis Wilson

From: Jack Rieley

To: Beach Boys list (

Date: Oct 8 1996 - 12:09am



Ron,



No one could have been a better friend than Dennis Wilson.



I met him in New Mexico just weeks after being signed up with the

Beach Boys. He was on location for Two Lane Blacktop, the minor opus

he did together with James Taylor. Dennis scared the sh*t out of me

upon our first meeting, greeting me with a mistrusting stare,

scowling and shouting-spitting the words, "So you're the asshole

who's supposed to save us, heh? Well guess what, ass hole: I'm

quitting the Beach Boys." Speechless, I wanted to crawl back to the

rental car and drive off. After staring me down for another long

moment Dennis' face changed abruptly to a caring, bashful smile. He

put his arms around me. "Carl says you're the best thing that has

happened to him!" I was confused, maybe even trembling slightly.



It was the odd beginning of a deep friendship.



Collaborating with Dennis meant brooding with him, being harsh with

his self-indulgence, providing encouragement to his brilliance. When

he sat down and played the piano and sang, I could not help but feel

excited.



He loved his brothers very deeply. He was in awe of Brian; always

concerned about Carl. "Gotta watch out for the quiet one," he warned

frequently with a wink.



I firmly believe Murry convinced Dennis during early childhood that

he was a dumb f***. And I am certain that Dennis worked most of his

life to live up to his father's definition.



Once, in Milwaukee when he met my father, he embraced him and said he

was "humbled" to "be in your presence."



I must once share with you the bizarre tale of a night in London,

long after I had left the group, when Dennis broke down my hotel door

because he was afraid I was dying. He was trying to save me.

Remind me as well to take time, sometime, to relate the story of

Murry's funeral.



On a visit to L.A., a year or two after the Holland album, I stayed

at Dennis' house in Malibu for a few nights. He was still with

Barbara then. I was to fly to Milwaukee in order to visit my dad

before returning to Europe. About 4 a.m. on the last night of my stay

with them, Dennis came into the guest bedroom and awoke me with a

gentleness that grips me still. He looked grim, sad beyond words.

"Your brother is on the phone," he said softly, caressing me as a

parent caresses a child. My brother had phoned to say our father had

died.



When we played a free gig at the California state prison for women, I

nearly flipped to see how many of the inmates knew Dennis personally.

Of course the Manson girls were there, hooting and cheering every

song.



His solo album may be a bit over the top, but it is filled with so

much intensity, so much raw emotion, so much musical mastery and

beauty that now, just thinking about it, I get goose pimples

everywhere.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: FW: thoughts on what Jack R. said....

From: Jack Rieley

To: Beach Boys list (

Date: Oct 8 1996 - 12:12am



You wrote:



> Maybe this is a dumb question, but did this cause any bad feelings

> between Bruce and the three Wilsons? Did Bruce resent the Wilsons?



During my time there, Bruce consistently displayed pure, shameless

disdain for Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson.



> Also, was Bruce's "Disney Girls" put onto Surf's Up (the album)

> before or after he was fired...



Before. Bruce asked me to write lyrics for the song. I declined.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: FW: LANDLOCKED

From: Jack Rieley

To: Beach Boys list (

Date: Oct 9 1996 - 12:42am



You wrote:



> Was there an album in the can when you entered into the Beach

> Boys? (before "Surf's up - after "Sunflower".. There was a lot of

> tracks in the can as we all know and songs like Lady, Loop-de-loop

> vanished into obscurity. Did you advice them not to release them

> or had they already rejected them? Songs like "Lookin' at

> tomorrow" and "Take a load off your feet" was included on

> LANDLOCKED - a possible followup to SUNFLOWER. Did the album

> LANDLOCKED (or any album) existed when you went into the picture

> or is it just a myth



Sorry, but gotta make this brief just now. What I am setting out is a

broad outline of a very detailed period.



Before agreeing to join them I set a few conditions... No more

striped shirts or 45-minute-string-o-hits shows, but concerts

instead. Brian would agree to finish Surf's Up and to allow its

release. Carl would be the musical leader of the band, which he was

anyway but never got the authority.



Landlocked came to me as an album title because it represented

departure: it was meant as a demarcation line, separating striped

shirted bullshit that had become irrelevant -- an object of public

scorn -- from artistry, new creativity, great new songs. We even had

a cover: stark bright white san-serif letters on a stark black field.



Then I heard the songs, among which were titles like Loop De Loop and

others which were, believe it or not, even more forgettable. I was

perplexed: no strategy was worth anything without the goods, and the

goods were not there. Embarrassed, I met with Mo Ostin at WB, who

listened to the tunes and declared "no way."



Toward the end of that meeting, during which Mo explained that WB had

already dropped a whole lotta cash by signing them (Mo was a true

Brian Wilson fan), I made him a promise: Brian would finish Surfs Up,

we would retitle the album Surfs Up but the cover would be miles away

from the beach. Mo gave me encouragement to lobby hard for the

solution. By then I had seen how Carl had so much incredible composer

potential within him, trying hard to get out, so a new album began

formulating in my head.



The cover was something that caught my eye at an antique shop near

Silver Lake. It was a painting and I bought it. Reminded me a bit of

the old Brother Records logo, but it was different.



Brian flaked out too many times to recall. "There is NO WAY for me to

finish that track," he wailed with mock emotion. I reminded him of

his promise and he eventually agreed to go into the studio (the

living room), where he duly went, albeit with lots of push.



Meanwhile, Carl Wilson and I began to write. Long Promised Road began

to be created. Then came the seed for Feel Flows. Til I Die became a

must. Tree was born. Love, Jardine and Johnston began to get testy

about it all. There was a long meeting during which they tried to

force me to march into Mo's office and sell him on Loop. I refused

and Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson backed me up. Love,

sensing that I might be on to something by rejecting the

string-o-hits crap as out of date, suddenly came up with Student

Demonstration Time, which had Carl and I blushing with embarrassment

and which thoroughly disgusted Dennis. Then Jardine demanded that his

Feet song go on the album. Johnston got Tears. When Carl and I

compiled the album running order, most versions had the Wilson songs

on one side and the jive on the other. It was uncool, so we changed

to the running order you know.



I really liked San Miguel but the thing was just a hook, not a song,

so we had to can it.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Not 100 percent sure this is what was to be found at those links on smileysmile.net, but I've had this Q&A from the Pet Sound Mailing List stashed on my hard drive for some years now.(Posting it in four parts, as it WAY exceeds the maximum allowed length.)******************************************************Subject: what's the deal here?From: Jack RieleyTo: Beach Boys list ( pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 4 1996 - 3:20pmHistorical society? Trivia collectors? Freaks? Musicologists?It would be helpful to know, first off, what this list is all about.- Jack Rieley-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: thankz for the explanationFrom: Jack RieleyTo: Beach Boys list ( pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 4 1996 - 7:46pmAppreciate the intro to your list.Briefly,- I got involved with them because I believed then, as I do today,that Brian Wilson is the greatest composer of this century. At thesame time, having seen their absurd, hideous live show(string-of-hits, striped shirts, bullshit), I felt it criminal to seehow the group so misrepresented / ignored / negated / yeah, evenviolated that unfuckinbelievably gorgeous music. So I was determinedto change things.- Have never read a Beach Boys book or article since leaving the zoo.Friends have asked me to, warned me not to, begged me to, etc. Alsohave not ever granted interviews to anyone writing those books.- I listen to today's music 90 percent of the time, which does notinclude the Beach Boys. When I have the occasion to hear BrianWilson's music of the period from shortly after the beginning throughabout '74, I am enchanted.- Carl Wilson has, for my money, one of the greatest fuckin voicesever recorded. He is also an incredible songwriter when he isinspired.- Still today I miss Dennis very much. Very very much.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: thoughts on what Jack R. said....From: Jack RieleyTo: Beach Boys list ( pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 6 1996 - 4:44pmokay, on to your comments/questions...you wish someone would do today what i did and change things forthem. kewl. i haven't a clue what they are currently doing on stage.i dropped the string-o-hits bullshit in favor of a 2-hour concertthat included the then-current songs, stretched-out lesser-knownjewels, etc. in that period i had them save the surfing schtick forthe encores.You ask...> I'm curious - I don't know much about your involvement with the> BB's (except that you were, what, a manager, for them in the early> 70'?), but I know that some of their most-respected work> (Sunflower, Surf's Up, Holland) were created while you were> around.... Have they asked you, ever, to come back...? Why did you> leave, or were you asked to leave? (Okay, all, now I'm showing my> ignorance...).My only involvement with Sunflower was as a consumer. Pleased youlike Surf's Up and Holland. I tried to leave the group when Hollandwas finished, because I chose not to return to the U.S. -- wantedinstead to live in The Netherlands. They insisted I should run thingsfrom Amsterdam, a ridiculous pseudo-solution because of the distanceinvolved and the day-to-day need for up-close interaction with BW, CWand DW. When Carl ran into domestic tumult and I wasn't around, hefelt let down. I did return on several quick occasions at the requestof Brian, Carl and Dennis. Also came back to help the family uponMurry's death (wow, that was a weird week). Eventually it becameclear to them that I had lost interest in being zookeeper.You asked as well why I have gave interviews for the books about thegroup. It was partly because of an overdose of confidentiality I felttoward them for a long, long time. Living in Europe, as I did until 2years ago, also gave me a healthy dose of disdain for thebreathless-supermarket-style of writing that passes as research andjournalism here. From what I have been told, the true story of Brian,Carl and Dennis Wilson and those other guys has certainly not beenwritten yet.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: thoughts on what Jack R. said....From: Jack RieleyTo: Beach Boys list ( pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 7 1996 - 11:32amYou wrote:> Okay, now we're getting somewhere. So Jack Rieley, what do you> think of _Stars & Stripes_?Have only heard it once. Don't plan to listen again.> My question: were the Beach Boys surviving doing things that way?> Did they chuck critical respectability to pay the bills, or just> to *increase* the profit?Neither one or the other. The Beach Boys has been a bitter powerstruggle since shortly after the beginning. Brian Wilson, DennisWilson and Carl Wilson represented the creative side: the appeal tomusical beauty and romance and funk and get-down and freakz/fanz;Love, Jardine and Johnston represented unbridled commercialism andpower. Before I got there, Love, Jardine and Johnston had control.Because Brian or Dennis often didn't bother to show up for meetings,the vote was general 2-3 against them.When I arrived and changed the group's direction, it signaled achange in the power-center as well. With the backing of Brian, Dennisand Carl, I fired Johnston, who had stymied the group's creativecohesiveness. At the same time I encouraged the Wilsons to act as aunit. Votes shifted to 3-2.Interestingly, Beach Boys record and live revenues soared in thatperiod, having suffered heavily in the period that ended with thesales debacles 20/20 and Sunflower.Upon my departure, the Wilsons went back to disarray. Carl was goingthrough terrible domestic problems. Dennis was having a divorce.Brian adjusted poorly to life back in Belair after his highlycreative, physically positive (he rode a bicycle daily and lostweight) stay in The Netherlands.Love and Jardine saw the hole in their armour and rammed through torenewed supremacy. Their musical/ideological vision of the Beach Boyswas totally different from that represented during my period there.Love's bitter resentment of Brian's musical genius and his newlyre-won power meant it was back to shuck and jive. Within a year theBeach Boys had returned to the state they were in before I camealong, but with revenues built upon those generated during the SurfsUp, So Tough, Holland, Live In Concert period.Could this have been prevented? The Wilsons should have determined mysuccessor. They did not.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: Re: Thanks, Jack!/"Tree" song questionFrom: Jack RieleyTo: Beach Boys list ( pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 7 1996 - 6:17pmYou wrote:> My first question would be: how about telling us what really went> on with that wonderful "Tree" song! I know some people on the list> have mentioned they don't like it, but some others, like me have> said they love the song and couldn't imagine anyone else singing> it and giving it the same feeling that you did. Any recollections> other than the "Brian was crying afterward -- and I don't know if> he really was moved by it or just giving me the business"> (paraphrased), would really be welcome.Brian Wilson and I had been talking a lot about the sorry state ofthe planet back then. He was filled with questions and we went on forhours about it. Forests were dying, the air had turned brown, theearth's future was beginning to appear hazardous to health. WhenBrian first played the chords and sang the tentative melody for me,he asked what the song should be about and I suggested a single treeas metaphor for the earth; that single tree as metaphor for more thanecology. I fell in love with the chords at once and loved theswelling tension of that droned bass line; the song seemed to lenditself to the lyrical concept. He went nuts for the lyrics when Ishowed them to him. Loved 'em, memorized the first verse and wassinging around the house. Carl and I were positive that Brian had tosing A Day In The Life Of A Tree.We recorded the instrumental track in a few days. On the day we wereto record the lead vocal, I was with the engineer in the control room(this was in Belair, at the Bellagio house) and Brian was in thestudio. He did a few warm-up takes and then, dramatically animated aswas in wont, tore the headphones from his ears and exclaimed that heneeded me to help him. I went out into the studio and he pleaded thathe just wasn't getting the feeling that I intended with the lyric."Show me what I'm supposed to do," he insisted, handing me theheadphones as he ran to the control booth.I did about 5 takes of the song, all except for the false-setto bitnear the end. Each time I screwed up one part or another, and aftereach take Brian used the talkback to inform me something like, "I seewhat you mean. But how about the blah-blah part. Do another take soI'll know just how to do the song." And dumb me: I did another take.It was after one of those that Brian burst from the control booth tothe studio, laughing loudly, a proclamatory laugh. He rushed me likea bear, raised both arms into the air as would a victorious highschool athletics coach and exclaimed that I had just done the finallead vocal!I protested. It was turing into another BW cop-out, I suspected. Butby then Carl was there too. He said Brian had told him a couple ofdays previous that I had to sing Tree. It had all been cooked inadvance.To my astonishment, the false-setto bit turned out easy. After VanDyke's bit, the added voice at the end is Linda Jardine.Reports of Brian crying, with joy or otherwise, upon hearing my vocalare bullshit.You wrote:> Really enjoy your lyrics, also. Did you write songs before you got> involved with the Boys, and did you write any songs after?Not much before. Since then I have.As to "Smile," I certainly have a something to say about that, butmust save it for another time. Suffice it to say, the "Smile" tapesas they are reportedly being circulated are not exactly kosher.Regards,- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: FW: Jack Rieley on Dennis WilsonFrom: Jack RieleyTo: Beach Boys list ( pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 8 1996 - 12:09amRon,No one could have been a better friend than Dennis Wilson.I met him in New Mexico just weeks after being signed up with theBeach Boys. He was on location for Two Lane Blacktop, the minor opushe did together with James Taylor. Dennis scared the sh*t out of meupon our first meeting, greeting me with a mistrusting stare,scowling and shouting-spitting the words, "So you're the assholewho's supposed to save us, heh? Well guess what, ass hole: I'mquitting the Beach Boys." Speechless, I wanted to crawl back to therental car and drive off. After staring me down for another longmoment Dennis' face changed abruptly to a caring, bashful smile. Heput his arms around me. "Carl says you're the best thing that hashappened to him!" I was confused, maybe even trembling slightly.It was the odd beginning of a deep friendship.Collaborating with Dennis meant brooding with him, being harsh withhis self-indulgence, providing encouragement to his brilliance. Whenhe sat down and played the piano and sang, I could not help but feelexcited.He loved his brothers very deeply. He was in awe of Brian; alwaysconcerned about Carl. "Gotta watch out for the quiet one," he warnedfrequently with a wink.I firmly believe Murry convinced Dennis during early childhood thathe was a dumb f***. And I am certain that Dennis worked most of hislife to live up to his father's definition.Once, in Milwaukee when he met my father, he embraced him and said hewas "humbled" to "be in your presence."I must once share with you the bizarre tale of a night in London,long after I had left the group, when Dennis broke down my hotel doorbecause he was afraid I was dying. He was trying to save me.Remind me as well to take time, sometime, to relate the story ofMurry's funeral.On a visit to L.A., a year or two after the Holland album, I stayedat Dennis' house in Malibu for a few nights. He was still withBarbara then. I was to fly to Milwaukee in order to visit my dadbefore returning to Europe. About 4 a.m. on the last night of my staywith them, Dennis came into the guest bedroom and awoke me with agentleness that grips me still. He looked grim, sad beyond words."Your brother is on the phone," he said softly, caressing me as aparent caresses a child. My brother had phoned to say our father haddied.When we played a free gig at the California state prison for women, Inearly flipped to see how many of the inmates knew Dennis personally.Of course the Manson girls were there, hooting and cheering everysong.His solo album may be a bit over the top, but it is filled with somuch intensity, so much raw emotion, so much musical mastery andbeauty that now, just thinking about it, I get goose pimpleseverywhere.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: FW: thoughts on what Jack R. said....From: Jack RieleyTo: Beach Boys list ( pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 8 1996 - 12:12amYou wrote:> Maybe this is a dumb question, but did this cause any bad feelings> between Bruce and the three Wilsons? Did Bruce resent the Wilsons?During my time there, Bruce consistently displayed pure, shamelessdisdain for Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson.> Also, was Bruce's "Disney Girls" put onto Surf's Up (the album)> before or after he was fired...Before. Bruce asked me to write lyrics for the song. I declined.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: FW: LANDLOCKEDFrom: Jack RieleyTo: Beach Boys list ( pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 9 1996 - 12:42amYou wrote:> Was there an album in the can when you entered into the Beach> Boys? (before "Surf's up - after "Sunflower".. There was a lot of> tracks in the can as we all know and songs like Lady, Loop-de-loop> vanished into obscurity. Did you advice them not to release them> or had they already rejected them? Songs like "Lookin' at> tomorrow" and "Take a load off your feet" was included on> LANDLOCKED - a possible followup to SUNFLOWER. Did the album> LANDLOCKED (or any album) existed when you went into the picture> or is it just a mythSorry, but gotta make this brief just now. What I am setting out is abroad outline of a very detailed period.Before agreeing to join them I set a few conditions... No morestriped shirts or 45-minute-string-o-hits shows, but concertsinstead. Brian would agree to finish Surf's Up and to allow itsrelease. Carl would be the musical leader of the band, which he wasanyway but never got the authority.Landlocked came to me as an album title because it representeddeparture: it was meant as a demarcation line, separating stripedshirted bullshit that had become irrelevant -- an object of publicscorn -- from artistry, new creativity, great new songs. We even hada cover: stark bright white san-serif letters on a stark black field.Then I heard the songs, among which were titles like Loop De Loop andothers which were, believe it or not, even more forgettable. I wasperplexed: no strategy was worth anything without the goods, and thegoods were not there. Embarrassed, I met with Mo Ostin at WB, wholistened to the tunes and declared "no way."Toward the end of that meeting, during which Mo explained that WB hadalready dropped a whole lotta cash by signing them (Mo was a trueBrian Wilson fan), I made him a promise: Brian would finish Surfs Up,we would retitle the album Surfs Up but the cover would be miles awayfrom the beach. Mo gave me encouragement to lobby hard for thesolution. By then I had seen how Carl had so much incredible composerpotential within him, trying hard to get out, so a new album beganformulating in my head.The cover was something that caught my eye at an antique shop nearSilver Lake. It was a painting and I bought it. Reminded me a bit ofthe old Brother Records logo, but it was different.Brian flaked out too many times to recall. "There is NO WAY for me tofinish that track," he wailed with mock emotion. I reminded him ofhis promise and he eventually agreed to go into the studio (theliving room), where he duly went, albeit with lots of push.Meanwhile, Carl Wilson and I began to write. Long Promised Road beganto be created. Then came the seed for Feel Flows. Til I Die became amust. Tree was born. Love, Jardine and Johnston began to get testyabout it all. There was a long meeting during which they tried toforce me to march into Mo's office and sell him on Loop. I refusedand Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson backed me up. Love,sensing that I might be on to something by rejecting thestring-o-hits crap as out of date, suddenly came up with StudentDemonstration Time, which had Carl and I blushing with embarrassmentand which thoroughly disgusted Dennis. Then Jardine demanded that hisFeet song go on the album. Johnston got Tears. When Carl and Icompiled the album running order, most versions had the Wilson songson one side and the jive on the other. It was uncool, so we changedto the running order you know.I really liked San Miguel but the thing was just a hook, not a song,so we had to can it.- Jack------------------------------------------------------------------- Logged

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Posts: 171





Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 171 Re: Jack Rieley's comments & Surf's Up « Reply #16 on: December 15, 2010, 08:30:11 AM »

From: Retro

To:

Date: Wednesday, October 09, 1996 12:35 PM



> I really liked San Miguel but the thing was just a hook, not a

> song, so we had to can it.

>

> - Jack



San Miguel is one of my favorite BB songs. It just rocks. I don't

know about it being "just a hook." Dennis wrote (and produced) a gem

with that one. It should have been on an album.



"Retro"



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: J.R. & "San Miguel"

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 9 1996 - 5:04pm



Retro,



I still hum it... guess it has always been one of my favorite

hooks... has that same special flair of Dancin In the Streets and

other gems.... perhaps you should know that the decision to can it

was made by Dennis Wilson, with Brian Wilson and Carl Wilson and I

supporting him.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: RE: LANDLOCKED

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 9 1996 - 5:13pm



Will,



It's not always wise to let one's personal feelings toward artists

influence our opinion about their art. Johnston has written songs

which have clearly touched you, and nothing about his actions need

change that. After all, Disney Girls has not been unmasked as a

repackage of Mein Kampf.



Remember, we all have the option of liking the art while concluding

that the artist is a schmuck.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: RE: Q for Jack R.

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 9 1996 - 7:10pm



I have never heard a word about Love's earthquake song.

No, Surfs Up was never meant as an eco concept album.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: RE: Surf's Up

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 10 1996 - 1:42pm



Paul,



Absolutely correct, and thanks for jogging my memory. Fourth Of July

was set for the album but then fell victim to glaring envy -- so the

world got Feet instead.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: 'Til I Die

From: Jack Rieley

To: Beach Boys list (

Date: Oct 13 1996 - 9:52am



Mike,



Near the end of recording of the Surfs Up album, in a parking lot off

Sunset Boulevard where Love, Jardine and Johnston requested that I

join them at some awful vegetarian restaurant, following a meal that

they raved about and I detested, after they had complained with

particularly venomous fervor about the brothers Wilson, Love took me

aside, stared furiously at me, curled his lip and snorted nastily,

"Long after you are no longer part of the Beach Boys, I will be

writing songs with Brian, and don't you ever forget that." He stabbed

the air to emphasize "don't", "you", "ever" and "forget." That wasn't

all. I..." he exclaimed, "I AM the Beach Boys!"



Love didn't have much good to say about 'Til I Die, Tree, Long

Promise Road or Feel Flows. They were depressing. They were downers.

They were too ethereal. They were trivial. He accepted the importance

of Surfs Up in a commercial sense, but derided its artistic merit. He

hated Burlesque more than anything, particularly because its lyric is

a about a stripper and even more pointedly because of the last line

of that lyric. Fascinating, I thought, considering the man's own

private life, that he was so adamant about family values on Beach

Boys songs.



Burlesque was Brian at his most passionate, most playful, most

daring, and it would have made a really cool track on the album. But

Love killed it.



Brian Wilson created 'Til I Die. No one else. There is a certain

moment in that song, as it begins to go into the fade chorus, just as

the overlapping voices haunt us, at the split-second the resolve

begins, during which -- when I hear it -- time stops, space

disappears and E doesn't equal mc2 anymore. Genius.



- Jack



He sings, "These things I'll be until I die."



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: In Concert

From: Jack Rieley

To: Beach Boys list (

Date: Oct 13 1996 - 9:53am



Leon,



During the tour that produced In Concert, Carl and I went out to the

mobile truck after the gig to listen to what had gone on tape.

Outside of a few out-of-pitch harmonies and the odd flub, one problem

real got to us.



The two tracks upon which the grand piano was recorded seemed to be

out of synch to the rest of the multi-track. We couldn't figure it

out. The engineers swore there was nothing wrong with the tape

transport. Cables were always a problem, but could they produce a

delay? It was eerie. The next day we listened again and the problem

remained. Spooky. Eventually we got round to listening to the piano

tracks while muting the rest. Nothing seemed really wrong. In fact an

engineer put a stopwatch to the solo piano tracks and it never varied

in beats-per-minute, from beginning of each song to the end. At last

that was our clue. We began muting just the piano and listening to

the rest and, sure enough, the band started at a certain b.p.m. but,

as a song went on, often speeded-up a bit. Enthusiasm, the live-vibe,

whatever you wanna call it, inevitably caused the tempo to increase

as songs went along. But Darryl Dragon, who wore earplugs, stayed

consistently at the original tempo. He was right, the rest of the

band was wrong, but we had to re-record numerous piano parts after

the tour.



Otherwise, In Concert was really a live album. There were studio

overdubs but certainly the album was not "faked." The bit about them

not knowing the words to Don't Worry Baby is utter bullshit, as is

the assertion that Caroline No was only a studio job.



The last time I listened to the album, maybe a year or two ago, it

still sounded fuckin great.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: how we met

From: Jack Rieley

To: Beach Boys list (

Date: Oct 13 1996 - 9:58am



I met Carl Wilson, Love, Jardine and Johnston at the Pacifica studio

in Los Angeles in 1970. Brian Wilson and I first met personally when

he asked me to visit him at the Radiant Radish.



During a long broadcast report I did then about the decline and fall

of the Beach Boys, I told them the group was acting as though their

fans were chumps by doing 45-minute string-o-hits sets; that they

looked irrelevant and totally out of touch wearing uniforms on stage;

that the music which had touched peoples' hearts -- Brian's music --

was being neglected.



They asked and were told that I had previously worked as reporter /

news director for a San Juan NBC affiliate.



As to those various bios you refer to, I have never read any of them.

A couple years after leaving the group, friends cautioned me about an

NME article that defamed my character. That one time I read the

article and had legal counsel act. A prominent apology and retraction

of all negative references to me -- they were all provably false --

quickly appeared in the NME.



But I was busy with my own life. I was living in Europe, far from the

zoo which interested me less and less. Your reference makes me think

I didn't miss much -- I don't really get off on taking legal action.



Upon getting to know them, Carl Wilson and I hit it off. Brian Wilson

and I hit it off. Later, when I met Dennis Wilson, we too hit it off.

Their then-business-manager Nick Grillo and Steve Love disliked me

from the start. Love, Jardine and Johnston wanted me on board to

improve their image. However, I believed then, as I do today, that

the projection of their image depended upon the content of their

records and live performances.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: Questions for Jack Rieley

From: DAUBER

To:

Date: Monday, October 14, 1996 6:52 PM



Never mind the bullocks, here are some REAL questions!



1) Regarding "Take A Load Off Your Feet"--there was a bit of

disagreement on what the fade-out vocals were singing. It sounds to

me [although I think I'm dead wrong] like "Be sweet to your feet."

Others say they think it's "Pete's feet are your feet," and God knows

how many other interpretations there have been...do you

know/remember???



2) Another _Surf's Up_ song--"Feel Flows"--has caused some debate. I

think that the song is about transcendental meditation. I think it

was David "Imponderables" Feldman who said it's about sniffing

cocaine. And I've seen MANY people say that it's about...CUNNILINGUS!

What's the straight dope on this song???



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: RE: Questions for Jack Rieley

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 14 1996 - 11:04pm



Dauber,



No idea about Feet except the distorted voice sings 'Take care of

your feet.'



As for Feel Flows, the song was composed, written and recorded under

seriously powdered conditions. Carl and I worked on it for days at

Bellagio, often getting trapped in laughing jags that seemed unending

and thus made the sessions more fun / exciting and the music more

daring. The guitar solo is Carl's best in his life. The lyric came to

me in the studio early one summer evening just after the solo was

recorded. Trapped with Carl in another laugh riot, I somehow managed

to overcome the effects and drive over to Carl & Annie's place on

Coldwater to write in peace. Half way and numerous lines through the

lyric Annie and I got still deeper into one of those laugh jags. I

couldn't stop until going out back, stripping off my clothes, jumping

into their pool and swimming for a long while, still strongly under

the influence. When I came out of the water it was to find that Annie

had taken my clothes and hidden them inside the house. Prude me

slightly freaked and pouted until I got them back. By then the idea

for the lyric changed somewhat and all the lines I feel good about

began popping into the song. The middle part, with Carl's

unfuckinbelievable solo followed by the synth and flute, is the sound

of orgasm, plain and simple. My favorite things on the song are

Carl's "ah-yeaahhh-yeah-yeah" rounds during the solo and my "aaaah"

exclamation. It's all about orgasm, dewdz.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: RE: Dennis Wilson

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 15 1996 - 1:08pm



Dennis Wilson's music had little influence from Darryl Dragon. Darryl

sometimes enabled Dennis' more over-the-top arrangements, but not the

compositions.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: To Jack Rieley -- A Quick Question

From: DANIEL LEGA

To:

Date: Tuesday, October 15, 1996 3:28 PM



Hey Jack,



Could you please tell me what the lyrics are in "Feel Flows"

that I can't understand -- and which weren't printed in the

lyric sheet? It's the part that's I guess you could call the

chorus -- and which to me sounded like (everyone prepare to

laugh):



White glove glistening shadowy flows,

Black glove ...



Or:



Wipe off glistening ...



Jack, if you can help me out here I'd appreciate it!



Thanks, Dan Lega



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: RE: To Jack Rieley -- A Quick Question

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 15 1996 - 3:42pm



white puff glisteny shadowy flow

black puff glisteny shadowy flow....



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: Attn: Jack Rieley (Surfs Up)

From: Rick Mannor

To:

Date: Tuesday, October 15, 1996 5:28 PM



Jack Rieley wrote:



> Before agreeing to join them I set a few conditions... No more

> striped shirts or 45-minute-string-o-hits shows, but concerts

> instead. Brian would agree to finish Surf's Up and to allow its

> release. Carl would be the musical leader of the band, which he was

> anyway but never got the authority. (snip)

> Brian flaked out too many times to recall. "There is NO WAY for me

> to finish that track," he wailed with mock emotion. I reminded him

> of his promise and he eventually agreed to go into the studio (the

> living room), where he duly went, albeit with lots of push.



With this post you pretty much addressed my question about Brian's

attitude towards the song "Surf's Up" in 1971. However, I'm still

curious as to his initial reaction when you made this a condition for

managing the band. I would also like to know if he actually tried to

redo his vocals and/or suggested the "Child is the Father of the Man"

coda. As I stated in my first post, I feel this is the best song the

Beach Boys have ever released. It sounds like we have you to thank

for it ever seeing the light of day.



Rick



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: RE: Attn: Jack Rieley (Surfs Up)

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 15 1996 - 8:45pm



Rick,



Re-read my earlier response and you'll see I was referring to him

complaining, wailing MOCK emotion.



Brian Wilson loved Surfs Up. He knew very well that it may be one of

the most important pieces of music in this century. He was dying for

Surfs Up to be acknowledged for what it is, but terrified that it

would get ignored, discarded, lost, much as Heroes and Villains was

virtually ignored years earlier.



In short, Brian Wilson lived in terror of public failure. A lot has

been made of his drug use/abuse, which may indeed have had searing

effects upon him. But it was the public failure of Heroes to to wow

Capitol and thus wow the world that caused him to withdraw. When the

withdrawal began to attract notice, Brian's keen senses picked up on

the fact. Soon he was feeding off the crumbs of legend available to

"Brian Wilson, eccentric recluse" -- a hideous second-best to the

public acclaim he was denied.



No wonder that he was unsure of my plan to complete Surfs Up and

release the track.



As related earlier, I changed the album title from Landlocked to

Surfs Up. The shift was to principally honor the song's greatness.

But the shift was also evidence to Brian that I was serious about

making his work shine. At the same time, the re-titling served to

prevent Brian from giving in to his terror.



The arrangement that you hear on the album resulted from many talks

with Brian, and a careful examination of the real Smile tapes -- the

originals. Carl and I got Brian's explicit support to remove the

originals from the vault and take them to Carl's place on Coldwater,

where the two of us listened to songs and snippets, full works and

outtakes, night after night after night. Without even an engineer

around, we tried mending and splicing the brittle multitrack

recordings. Sometimes we succeeded. With the Fire tapes, which were

there but damaged (and not by fire), we had to settle for long

passages and short gaps. There's much more to say about Smile, of

course, but this note is about Surfs Up.



The song was in several disjointed, uncompleted sections. Child was

clearly intended to be the climax. After many nights of listening --

at least two with Brian on Coldwater with us -- we set out to

construct and reconstruct. I first flirted with the thought Brian

should sing the lead on the first section, but Brian insisted that

Carl do it, and Carl was clearly thrilled. It was the right thing to

do. The Brian solo section is of course constructed around Brian's

televised appearance for Leonard Bernstein. Carl played the bottom

end synth, I decided to cut all effects from Brian's voice on the

title line. We had lots of musicians in to redo parts of the track

that had been played badly. Recording went on for several weeks, with

Brian very involved but Carl heading the effort. It was going to be a

masterpiece. By the time we got to Child, some of the moving parts

had Brian excited and active. He chose Carl for a couple, took on a

two for himself, assigned two more to me, got Marilyn for still

another. Desper seemed to realize he was recording something

extraordinary: his acid humor was replaced by, ahh, reverence.



Credit for the brilliance of Surfs Up, the recorded song, must be

shared by Brian Wilson, who composed that incredible crown jewel, and

Carl Wilson, who guided and nurtured the amazing recording project,

in addition to singing a truly spectacular lead vocal. My own role

was to fight through Brian's terror with honor, respect and

enthusiastic persistence, so that you all could hear Surfs Up.



- Jack



-------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject: Re: J.R. & "San Miguel"From: RetroTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Wednesday, October 09, 1996 12:35 PM> I really liked San Miguel but the thing was just a hook, not a> song, so we had to can it.> - JackSan Miguel is one of my favorite BB songs. It just rocks. I don'tknow about it being "just a hook." Dennis wrote (and produced) a gemwith that one. It should have been on an album."Retro"-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: J.R. & "San Miguel"From: Jack RieleyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 9 1996 - 5:04pmRetro,I still hum it... guess it has always been one of my favoritehooks... has that same special flair of Dancin In the Streets andother gems.... perhaps you should know that the decision to can itwas made by Dennis Wilson, with Brian Wilson and Carl Wilson and Isupporting him.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: LANDLOCKEDFrom: Jack RieleyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 9 1996 - 5:13pmWill,It's not always wise to let one's personal feelings toward artistsinfluence our opinion about their art. Johnston has written songswhich have clearly touched you, and nothing about his actions needchange that. After all, Disney Girls has not been unmasked as arepackage of Mein Kampf.Remember, we all have the option of liking the art while concludingthat the artist is a schmuck.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: Q for Jack R.From: Jack RieleyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 9 1996 - 7:10pmI have never heard a word about Love's earthquake song.No, Surfs Up was never meant as an eco concept album.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: Surf's UpFrom: Jack RieleyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 10 1996 - 1:42pmPaul,Absolutely correct, and thanks for jogging my memory. Fourth Of Julywas set for the album but then fell victim to glaring envy -- so theworld got Feet instead.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: 'Til I DieFrom: Jack RieleyTo: Beach Boys list ( pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 13 1996 - 9:52amMike,Near the end of recording of the Surfs Up album, in a parking lot offSunset Boulevard where Love, Jardine and Johnston requested that Ijoin them at some awful vegetarian restaurant, following a meal thatthey raved about and I detested, after they had complained withparticularly venomous fervor about the brothers Wilson, Love took measide, stared furiously at me, curled his lip and snorted nastily,"Long after you are no longer part of the Beach Boys, I will bewriting songs with Brian, and don't you ever forget that." He stabbedthe air to emphasize "don't", "you", "ever" and "forget." That wasn'tall. I..." he exclaimed, "I AM the Beach Boys!"Love didn't have much good to say about 'Til I Die, Tree, LongPromise Road or Feel Flows. They were depressing. They were downers.They were too ethereal. They were trivial. He accepted the importanceof Surfs Up in a commercial sense, but derided its artistic merit. Hehated Burlesque more than anything, particularly because its lyric isa about a stripper and even more pointedly because of the last lineof that lyric. Fascinating, I thought, considering the man's ownprivate life, that he was so adamant about family values on BeachBoys songs.Burlesque was Brian at his most passionate, most playful, mostdaring, and it would have made a really cool track on the album. ButLove killed it.Brian Wilson created 'Til I Die. No one else. There is a certainmoment in that song, as it begins to go into the fade chorus, just asthe overlapping voices haunt us, at the split-second the resolvebegins, during which -- when I hear it -- time stops, spacedisappears and E doesn't equal mc2 anymore. Genius.- JackHe sings, "These things I'll be until I die."-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: In ConcertFrom: Jack RieleyTo: Beach Boys list ( pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 13 1996 - 9:53amLeon,During the tour that produced In Concert, Carl and I went out to themobile truck after the gig to listen to what had gone on tape.Outside of a few out-of-pitch harmonies and the odd flub, one problemreal got to us.The two tracks upon which the grand piano was recorded seemed to beout of synch to the rest of the multi-track. We couldn't figure itout. The engineers swore there was nothing wrong with the tapetransport. Cables were always a problem, but could they produce adelay? It was eerie. The next day we listened again and the problemremained. Spooky. Eventually we got round to listening to the pianotracks while muting the rest. Nothing seemed really wrong. In fact anengineer put a stopwatch to the solo piano tracks and it never variedin beats-per-minute, from beginning of each song to the end. At lastthat was our clue. We began muting just the piano and listening tothe rest and, sure enough, the band started at a certain b.p.m. but,as a song went on, often speeded-up a bit. Enthusiasm, the live-vibe,whatever you wanna call it, inevitably caused the tempo to increaseas songs went along. But Darryl Dragon, who wore earplugs, stayedconsistently at the original tempo. He was right, the rest of theband was wrong, but we had to re-record numerous piano parts afterthe tour.Otherwise, In Concert was really a live album. There were studiooverdubs but certainly the album was not "faked." The bit about themnot knowing the words to Don't Worry Baby is utter bullshit, as isthe assertion that Caroline No was only a studio job.The last time I listened to the album, maybe a year or two ago, itstill sounded fuckin great.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: how we metFrom: Jack RieleyTo: Beach Boys list ( pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 13 1996 - 9:58amI met Carl Wilson, Love, Jardine and Johnston at the Pacifica studioin Los Angeles in 1970. Brian Wilson and I first met personally whenhe asked me to visit him at the Radiant Radish.During a long broadcast report I did then about the decline and fallof the Beach Boys, I told them the group was acting as though theirfans were chumps by doing 45-minute string-o-hits sets; that theylooked irrelevant and totally out of touch wearing uniforms on stage;that the music which had touched peoples' hearts -- Brian's music --was being neglected.They asked and were told that I had previously worked as reporter /news director for a San Juan NBC affiliate.As to those various bios you refer to, I have never read any of them.A couple years after leaving the group, friends cautioned me about anNME article that defamed my character. That one time I read thearticle and had legal counsel act. A prominent apology and retractionof all negative references to me -- they were all provably false --quickly appeared in the NME.But I was busy with my own life. I was living in Europe, far from thezoo which interested me less and less. Your reference makes me thinkI didn't miss much -- I don't really get off on taking legal action.Upon getting to know them, Carl Wilson and I hit it off. Brian Wilsonand I hit it off. Later, when I met Dennis Wilson, we too hit it off.Their then-business-manager Nick Grillo and Steve Love disliked mefrom the start. Love, Jardine and Johnston wanted me on board toimprove their image. However, I believed then, as I do today, thatthe projection of their image depended upon the content of theirrecords and live performances.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: Questions for Jack RieleyFrom: DAUBERTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Monday, October 14, 1996 6:52 PMNever mind the bullocks, here are some REAL questions!1) Regarding "Take A Load Off Your Feet"--there was a bit ofdisagreement on what the fade-out vocals were singing. It sounds tome [although I think I'm dead wrong] like "Be sweet to your feet."Others say they think it's "Pete's feet are your feet," and God knowshow many other interpretations there have been...do youknow/remember???2) Another _Surf's Up_ song--"Feel Flows"--has caused some debate. Ithink that the song is about transcendental meditation. I think itwas David "Imponderables" Feldman who said it's about sniffingcocaine. And I've seen MANY people say that it's about...CUNNILINGUS!What's the straight dope on this song???-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: Questions for Jack RieleyFrom: Jack RieleyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 14 1996 - 11:04pmDauber,No idea about Feet except the distorted voice sings 'Take care ofyour feet.'As for Feel Flows, the song was composed, written and recorded underseriously powdered conditions. Carl and I worked on it for days atBellagio, often getting trapped in laughing jags that seemed unendingand thus made the sessions more fun / exciting and the music moredaring. The guitar solo is Carl's best in his life. The lyric came tome in the studio early one summer evening just after the solo wasrecorded. Trapped with Carl in another laugh riot, I somehow managedto overcome the effects and drive over to Carl & Annie's place onColdwater to write in peace. Half way and numerous lines through thelyric Annie and I got still deeper into one of those laugh jags. Icouldn't stop until going out back, stripping off my clothes, jumpinginto their pool and swimming for a long while, still strongly underthe influence. When I came out of the water it was to find that Anniehad taken my clothes and hidden them inside the house. Prude meslightly freaked and pouted until I got them back. By then the ideafor the lyric changed somewhat and all the lines I feel good aboutbegan popping into the song. The middle part, with Carl'sunfuckinbelievable solo followed by the synth and flute, is the soundof orgasm, plain and simple. My favorite things on the song areCarl's "ah-yeaahhh-yeah-yeah" rounds during the solo and my "aaaah"exclamation. It's all about orgasm, dewdz.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: Dennis WilsonFrom: Jack RieleyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 15 1996 - 1:08pmDennis Wilson's music had little influence from Darryl Dragon. Darrylsometimes enabled Dennis' more over-the-top arrangements, but not thecompositions.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: To Jack Rieley -- A Quick QuestionFrom: DANIEL LEGATo: Pet-Sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Tuesday, October 15, 1996 3:28 PMHey Jack,Could you please tell me what the lyrics are in "Feel Flows"that I can't understand -- and which weren't printed in thelyric sheet? It's the part that's I guess you could call thechorus -- and which to me sounded like (everyone prepare tolaugh):White glove glistening shadowy flows,Black glove ...Or:Wipe off glistening ...Jack, if you can help me out here I'd appreciate it!Thanks, Dan Lega-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: To Jack Rieley -- A Quick QuestionFrom: Jack RieleyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 15 1996 - 3:42pmwhite puff glisteny shadowy flowblack puff glisteny shadowy flow....-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: Attn: Jack Rieley (Surfs Up)From: Rick MannorTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Tuesday, October 15, 1996 5:28 PMJack Rieley wrote:> Before agreeing to join them I set a few conditions... No more> striped shirts or 45-minute-string-o-hits shows, but concerts> instead. Brian would agree to finish Surf's Up and to allow its> release. Carl would be the musical leader of the band, which he was> anyway but never got the authority. (snip)> Brian flaked out too many times to recall. "There is NO WAY for me> to finish that track," he wailed with mock emotion. I reminded him> of his promise and he eventually agreed to go into the studio (the> living room), where he duly went, albeit with lots of push.With this post you pretty much addressed my question about Brian'sattitude towards the song "Surf's Up" in 1971. However, I'm stillcurious as to his initial reaction when you made this a condition formanaging the band. I would also like to know if he actually tried toredo his vocals and/or suggested the "Child is the Father of the Man"coda. As I stated in my first post, I feel this is the best song theBeach Boys have ever released. It sounds like we have you to thankfor it ever seeing the light of day.Rick-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: Attn: Jack Rieley (Surfs Up)From: Jack RieleyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 15 1996 - 8:45pmRick,Re-read my earlier response and you'll see I was referring to himcomplaining, wailing MOCK emotion.Brian Wilson loved Surfs Up. He knew very well that it may be one ofthe most important pieces of music in this century. He was dying forSurfs Up to be acknowledged for what it is, but terrified that itwould get ignored, discarded, lost, much as Heroes and Villains wasvirtually ignored years earlier.In short, Brian Wilson lived in terror of public failure. A lot hasbeen made of his drug use/abuse, which may indeed have had searingeffects upon him. But it was the public failure of Heroes to to wowCapitol and thus wow the world that caused him to withdraw. When thewithdrawal began to attract notice, Brian's keen senses picked up onthe fact. Soon he was feeding off the crumbs of legend available to"Brian Wilson, eccentric recluse" -- a hideous second-best to thepublic acclaim he was denied.No wonder that he was unsure of my plan to complete Surfs Up andrelease the track.As related earlier, I changed the album title from Landlocked toSurfs Up. The shift was to principally honor the song's greatness.But the shift was also evidence to Brian that I was serious aboutmaking his work shine. At the same time, the re-titling served toprevent Brian from giving in to his terror.The arrangement that you hear on the album resulted from many talkswith Brian, and a careful examination of the real Smile tapes -- theoriginals. Carl and I got Brian's explicit support to remove theoriginals from the vault and take them to Carl's place on Coldwater,where the two of us listened to songs and snippets, full works andouttakes, night after night after night. Without even an engineeraround, we tried mending and splicing the brittle multitrackrecordings. Sometimes we succeeded. With the Fire tapes, which werethere but damaged (and not by fire), we had to settle for longpassages and short gaps. There's much more to say about Smile, ofcourse, but this note is about Surfs Up.The song was in several disjointed, uncompleted sections. Child wasclearly intended to be the climax. After many nights of listening --at least two with Brian on Coldwater with us -- we set out toconstruct and reconstruct. I first flirted with the thought Brianshould sing the lead on the first section, but Brian insisted thatCarl do it, and Carl was clearly thrilled. It was the right thing todo. The Brian solo section is of course constructed around Brian'stelevised appearance for Leonard Bernstein. Carl played the bottomend synth, I decided to cut all effects from Brian's voice on thetitle line. We had lots of musicians in to redo parts of the trackthat had been played badly. Recording went on for several weeks, withBrian very involved but Carl heading the effort. It was going to be amasterpiece. By the time we got to Child, some of the moving partshad Brian excited and active. He chose Carl for a couple, took on atwo for himself, assigned two more to me, got Marilyn for stillanother. Desper seemed to realize he was recording somethingextraordinary: his acid humor was replaced by, ahh, reverence.Credit for the brilliance of Surfs Up, the recorded song, must beshared by Brian Wilson, who composed that incredible crown jewel, andCarl Wilson, who guided and nurtured the amazing recording project,in addition to singing a truly spectacular lead vocal. My own rolewas to fight through Brian's terror with honor, respect andenthusiastic persistence, so that you all could hear Surfs Up.- Jack------------------------------------------------------------------- Logged

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Posts: 171





Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 171 Re: Jack Rieley's comments & Surf's Up « Reply #17 on: December 15, 2010, 08:31:03 AM »

From: SMILEY SMILER

To:

Date: Thursday, October 17, 1996 7:07 AM



On Thu, 17 Oct 1996, David Prokopy wrote:



> a children's song, ?

> their song is love, and the children ?



I believe it's a children's song, have you listened as they played?

their song is love, and the children know the way.



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Subject: RE: SURF:S UP

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 17 1996 - 12:19pm



correct.



- jack



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Subject: Re: SURF:S UP

From: dave prokopy

To:

Date: Thursday, October 17, 1996 12:22 PM



> I believe it's

> a children's song, have you listened as they played?

> their song is love, and the children know the way.



that basically what i thought, too, but i've heard different

interpretations. at any rate, then my NEXT question is, who wrote

this? are these parks' words from 1966, or someone else's words from

1971? certainly, neither of the two vocal performances of the song

that still exist from 1966 (i.e., the two solo performances brian did

for CBS) contain this couplet, but possibly just because brian was

too busy singing the "ahhhh" part at the end.



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Subject: RE: SURF:S UP

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 17 1996 - 12:22pm



The couplet was written during the recording of the moving

backgrounds for the Surfs Up album.



- Jack



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Subject: RE: SURF:S UP

From: dave prokopy

To:

Sent: Thursday, October 17, 1996 1:39 PM



> The couplet was written during the recording of the moving

> backgrounds for the Surfs Up album.



by whom? you? brian? carl? al? van dyke?



(sorry to pester you about this - as many people on this list know,

i'm a HUGE Smile fanatic, so these little tidbits are indespensible

to me!)



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Subject: RE: SURF:S UP

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 17 1996 - 1:47pm



Dave,



There's no writer's credit officially given, so I am somewhat

reticent about this question. How about this.... it was not Brian,

Carl, Jardine, Love, Johnston, Van Dyke Parks, Dennis or Steve

Desper.



Perhaps you will excuse this admittedly chicken-sh*t way around your

question. The couplet's authorship should of course have been

credited. It was not.



- Jack



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Subject: To Jack Rieley -- Another Quick Question

From: DANIEL LEGA

To:

Date: Thursday, October 17, 1996 5:30 PM



Hi Jack,



In case you haven't figured it out yet, I wanted to warn you that

there are lots of people, like myself, on this list who are just

absolute freaks where "SMiLE" is concerned. (I was even driven to

write a 19 page double-spaced paper about it that was subsequently

printed in the Beach Boys Australia fan magazine, after picking up

the first few CD bootlegs in the early '90's.)



So just to continue on the thread that's been going on, here's

another quick question: The bootleg, 1966, version of "Child Is

Father Of The Man" is a different melody from that now attached to

the "Surf's Up" ending. Now you just sorted stated that you wrote the

couplets about the "Children's song . . ." My question is whose idea

was it to sing the "Child Is Father Of The Man" line itself at that

spot, and when was this decided -- 1966 or in the 70's when "Surf's

Up" was being put back together?



Thanks,

Dan Lega



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Subject: RE: To Jack Rieley -- Another Quick Question

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 17 1996 - 6:44pm



The decision was made by Brian. He stated clearly that it was his

intent all along for Child to be the tag for Surfs Up.



- Jack



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Subject: manager



From: Jack Rieley

To: 'Beach Boys list' (pet

Reply-To:

Date: Oct 17 1996 - 8:09pm



Page,



You wrote:



> For this reader, this was Jack's most revealing post to date. It

> speaks volumes... about the thankless work of managers and the

> short memory spans of many, many artists. This is absolutely

> amazing. Page



Several persons on this list refer to me as having been the "manager"

of the Beach Boys. It is a title that I consistently refused, both

within the group and without. When forced by circumstance to take a

title back then, I elected "career direction."



- Jack



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Subject: Brian's withdrawal

From: Steven Dunn

To:

Date: Friday, October 18, 1996 6:27 AM



First of all, Jack you are a star for being active in this group.

Your insight is compelling and your comments are so well expressed

from someone who clearly REALLY appreciates the music. I now look

forward to reading your emails with unheralded enthusiasm. Add my

name to the many, who are keen to hear more on Smile.



Now excuse me questioning your comments but in an earlier mail you

wrote:



> In short, Brian Wilson lived in terror of public failure. A lot has

> been made of his drug use/abuse, which may indeed have had searing

> effects upon him. But it was the public failure of Heroes to wow

> Capitol and thus wow the world that caused him to withdraw.



I had always thought that it was the failure to complete Smile that

caused his withdrawal. H&V wasn't released until mid 67 after Smile

was ditched (and after his withdrawal had started?), and then it

reached top 5 in the UK and top 10(?) in the US, which wasn't a total

failure. Can you please elaborate/put me right ?



While on the subject, I've found the final sequence on the bikes in

Hawaii (from American Band) where Brian looks back the camera so very

poignant. I can almost hear him saying 'I'm so very sad and tired and

I've had enough.'



regards,

Steven



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Subject: Brian's withdrawal

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 18 1996 - 4:27am



Steven,



Until joining them I also thought Brian Wilson had gone recluse

because he hadn't completed Smile. That was, after all, the line

which the press had taken. It turned out that Derek Taylor, one time

mastermind of press for the Beatles, invented that version in an

attempt to create a Beach Boys mythos.



Reality would have been a more compelling tale.



Brian blirted it out one evening at Bellagio, and later spoke about

it several times in agonizing detail. He had expected that Heroes

would be greeted by Capitol as the work which put the Beach Boys on a

creative par with the Beatles. All the adoration and promotional

backup Capitol was giving the Beatles would also flow to his music

because of Heroes, he thought. And the public? It would greet Heroes

with the same level of overwhelming enthusiasm that the Beatles got

with record after record. As it was, Capitol execs were divided about

Heroes. Some loved it but others castigated the track, longing

instead for still more surfing/cars songs. The public bought the

record in respectable but surely not wowy zowy numbers. For Brian,

this was the ultimate failure. His surfing/car songs were the ones

they loved the most. His musical growth, unlike that of Messrs.

Lennon and McCartney, did not translate into commercial ascendancy or

public glory.



- Jack



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Subject: Re: pet-sounds-digest V1 #472

From: Noble Surfer

To:

Date: Saturday, October 19, 1996 5:53 PM



Jack,



this is something that has ALWAYS pissed me off about the Beach Boys.

It;s almost as if Karma predetermined that The Beatles would be

expected to change and grow while the Beach Boys were expected to

remain in striped shirts, woodies and Pendletones for the rest of

their lives. Maybe you could answer why the public and trhe record

biz weasels had such a short sighted view of Brian and his music. It

saddens me greatly that SGT PEPPER abd the WHITE ALBUM (not meant as

a slam at those records because I am also a Beatles fan) are praied

and wprshipped by th general public while PET SOUNDS, SMILE, FRIENDS,

ect languish in obscurity at the same time that the Beach Boys score

a fluke hit with a stupid Carribean novelty song. Maybe Brian really

wasn't made for these times? Maybe Mike Love really was right? Maybe

SMILE really would have changed their fate? I don't know. So many

questions. I just wish that the public's last image of the BB isn't

one of overweight grandfathers in Hawaiian shirts and bermuda shorts

and dumb oldie medleys just like I wish the lingering public image of

Elvis isn't one of a fat, drug addict in a white jumpsuit singing

"Make The World Go Away" or other Las Vegas "standards."



Regards,

Rob "Noble Surfer" McCabe



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Subject: RE: pet-sounds-digest V1 #472

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 19 1996 - 7:24pm



Rob,



I will be blunt.



The Beatles were focused, strategic, professional and well led during

the years of their mounting ascendancy in critical and commercial

acclaim. John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the creators, spoke the same

"line" as did George Harrison and Ringo Starr. There was true career

direction, which the group followed carefully.



During that same period The Beach Boys were divided, unprofessional

and horrendously led. Brian Wilson, the creator, had the respect of

his brothers but not of the others in his band nor of their manager.

The brothers spoke one "line" while Love, Jardine, an emerging

Johnston and Murry Wilson spouted another. There was no career

direction to speak of and chaos reigned.



Tragically, the same parameters held true during most but not all of

the group's career. An exception, I contend, was during the period in

which I guided their career direction.



To sum it up, they blew it, they blew it consistently, they continue

to blow it, it is tragic and this pathological problem caused The

Beach Boys' greatest music to be so underrated by the general public.



- Jack



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Subject: BW music

From: Leonard Hyde

To:

Date: Thursday, October 24, 1996 6:38 PM



Re: Brian's music during the Pet Sounds/Smile era: on Pet Sounds, he

was still writing whole songs. Beginning with Good Vibrations,

something seemed to change. Brian became obsessed with 'pocket

symphonies.' Both GV and Heroes feature Brian getting hooked on

little melodic lines, and trying to build huge productions out of

them. In GV, it was the opening bit "dum - de dum dummm de dum dum,"

etc. In Heroes, it was the "Heroes and Villains, come see what you've

done" part. When I listen to the Good Vibrations "birth pangs" (as I

call them,) you can hear the song grow and grow. When Brian came up

with the final product, it was far and away the culmination of the

effort in every manner.



However, listening to early segments of "Heroes," it seemed the more

Brian worked on the record, the more it lost. The "Smile" segments

are fascinating exercises in musical expression, whether Brian ever

intended to use all of them or not. The 'cantina' version was far

better than the version Brian eventualy released. Hal Blaine said in

David Leaf's book that Heroes was at one time a hell of a song, way

better than GV. Brian just kept tinkering and tinkering and polishing

and polishing until there wasn't much left.



One reason for the record's failure (#13 on Billboard isn't what most

artists would regard as a failure) was it's inaccessibility. What the

hell is it about, anyway? There are visions of the Southwest and old

Mexico, but how much did that mean to teenage record buyers? It meant

nothing at all to me, I can tell you. Conversely, I had no problem

figuring out what GV was about. So, it must be debated if the record

in ANY form would have been the hit Brian expected it to be.



At any rate, Brian sure set himself up for a fall, with all the hype,

planning the release date by astrology, hand delivering the record to

KFWB by limousine at midnight, etc. Jack Rieley has verified that

Heroes' failure was the last straw to Brian at that point. Wasn't

there anyone around him to tell him the record wasn't that good? Or,

was everyone else so caught up in the Brian mystique by then that

they all actually believed it was a great record? Jack, can you shed

any light on this?



Lastly, re: GV: there is a version floating around that has been

tabbed as 'the record Brian almost released." Dick Clark played it

once, and I heard it once on a satellite oldies station, believe it

or not. It's similar, but different. It has the electric bass in the

middle, and (I think) the "om de om oh dee oh" middle bridge. Where

can this cut be found?



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Subject: RE: BW music

From: Jack Rieley

To:

Date: Oct 24 1996 - 8:06pm



Leonard,



My sincere compliments on a keen analysis that is right on target.

Without getting too much into detail in this note, I can confirm that

the longer Brian Wilson worked on Smile's tracks, the more they

degenerated. Early versions were brilliant -- brisk, melodic,

innovative and, yes, even funky at times. Songs and fragments alike

were outstanding. But Brian had no collaborators, no peers, no one to

encourage him and point the way. There were the in-group and

in-group-circle and in-house-Capitol detractors and backbiters and

naggers. But no one was there to insert continuity to the fragments

or to declare a track ready when it was ready. In the absence of

approval, Brian labored on long after certain tracks were done,

trying to improve on music that needed no improvement. Indeed, the

process led to an extraordinary degradation.



Reconstructing events was easy because there were all those tapes,

complete with carefully dated boxes, track sheets et all. Brian

Wilson did present the original Heroes to Capitol and the group, but

neither reacted with enthusiasm. Carl and Dennis were alone in wild

praise for the track. So, as you correctly presumed, he labored on to

"improve" it, and lost so much in the process. Of course you are

right as well in observing that the lyrics, as much as we may love

their poetry, also contributed toward making Heroes a hard sell.



Again, congratulations on your very kewl analysis.



- Jack



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Subject: Re: SURF:S UPFrom: SMILEY SMILERTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Thursday, October 17, 1996 7:07 AMOn Thu, 17 Oct 1996, David Prokopy wrote:> a children's song,> their song is love, and the childrenI believe it's a children's song, have you listened as they played?their song is love, and the children know the way.-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: SURF:S UPFrom: Jack RieleyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 17 1996 - 12:19pmcorrect.- jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: Re: SURF:S UPFrom: dave prokopyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Thursday, October 17, 1996 12:22 PM> I believe it's> a children's song, have you listened as they played?> their song is love, and the children know the way.that basically what i thought, too, but i've heard differentinterpretations. at any rate, then my NEXT question is, who wrotethis? are these parks' words from 1966, or someone else's words from1971? certainly, neither of the two vocal performances of the songthat still exist from 1966 (i.e., the two solo performances brian didfor CBS) contain this couplet, but possibly just because brian wastoo busy singing the "ahhhh" part at the end.-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: SURF:S UPFrom: Jack RieleyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 17 1996 - 12:22pmThe couplet was written during the recording of the movingbackgrounds for the Surfs Up album.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: SURF:S UPFrom: dave prokopyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Sent: Thursday, October 17, 1996 1:39 PM> The couplet was written during the recording of the moving> backgrounds for the Surfs Up album.by whom? you? brian? carl? al? van dyke?(sorry to pester you about this - as many people on this list know,i'm a HUGE Smile fanatic, so these little tidbits are indespensibleto me!)-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: SURF:S UPFrom: Jack RieleyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 17 1996 - 1:47pmDave,There's no writer's credit officially given, so I am somewhatreticent about this question. How about this.... it was not Brian,Carl, Jardine, Love, Johnston, Van Dyke Parks, Dennis or SteveDesper.Perhaps you will excuse this admittedly chicken-sh*t way around yourquestion. The couplet's authorship should of course have beencredited. It was not.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: To Jack Rieley -- Another Quick QuestionFrom: DANIEL LEGATo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Thursday, October 17, 1996 5:30 PMHi Jack,In case you haven't figured it out yet, I wanted to warn you thatthere are lots of people, like myself, on this list who are justabsolute freaks where "SMiLE" is concerned. (I was even driven towrite a 19 page double-spaced paper about it that was subsequentlyprinted in the Beach Boys Australia fan magazine, after picking upthe first few CD bootlegs in the early '90's.)So just to continue on the thread that's been going on, here'sanother quick question: The bootleg, 1966, version of "Child IsFather Of The Man" is a different melody from that now attached tothe "Surf's Up" ending. Now you just sorted stated that you wrote thecouplets about the "Children's song . . ." My question is whose ideawas it to sing the "Child Is Father Of The Man" line itself at thatspot, and when was this decided -- 1966 or in the 70's when "Surf'sUp" was being put back together?Thanks,Dan Lega-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: To Jack Rieley -- Another Quick QuestionFrom: Jack RieleyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 17 1996 - 6:44pmThe decision was made by Brian. He stated clearly that it was hisintent all along for Child to be the tag for Surfs Up.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: managerFrom: Jack RieleyTo: 'Beach Boys list' (pet -sounds@lists.primenet.com Reply-To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 17 1996 - 8:09pmPage,You wrote:> For this reader, this was Jack's most revealing post to date. It> speaks volumes... about the thankless work of managers and the> short memory spans of many, many artists. This is absolutely> amazing. PageSeveral persons on this list refer to me as having been the "manager"of the Beach Boys. It is a title that I consistently refused, bothwithin the group and without. When forced by circumstance to take atitle back then, I elected "career direction."- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: Brian's withdrawalFrom: Steven DunnTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Friday, October 18, 1996 6:27 AMFirst of all, Jack you are a star for being active in this group.Your insight is compelling and your comments are so well expressedfrom someone who clearly REALLY appreciates the music. I now lookforward to reading your emails with unheralded enthusiasm. Add myname to the many, who are keen to hear more on Smile.Now excuse me questioning your comments but in an earlier mail youwrote:> In short, Brian Wilson lived in terror of public failure. A lot has> been made of his drug use/abuse, which may indeed have had searing> effects upon him. But it was the public failure of Heroes to wow> Capitol and thus wow the world that caused him to withdraw.I had always thought that it was the failure to complete Smile thatcaused his withdrawal. H&V wasn't released until mid 67 after Smilewas ditched (and after his withdrawal had started?), and then itreached top 5 in the UK and top 10(?) in the US, which wasn't a totalfailure. Can you please elaborate/put me right ?While on the subject, I've found the final sequence on the bikes inHawaii (from American Band) where Brian looks back the camera so verypoignant. I can almost hear him saying 'I'm so very sad and tired andI've had enough.'regards,Steven-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: Brian's withdrawalFrom: Jack RieleyTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Oct 18 1996 - 4:27amSteven,Until joining them I also thought Brian Wilson had gone reclusebecause he hadn't completed Smile. That was, after all, the linewhich the press had taken. It turned out that Derek Taylor, one timemastermind of press for the Beatles, invented that version in anattempt to create a Beach Boys mythos.Reality would have been a more compelling tale.Brian blirted it out one evening at Bellagio, and later spoke aboutit several times in agonizing detail. He had expected that Heroeswould be greeted by Capitol as the work which put the Beach Boys on acreative par with the Beatles. All the adoration and promotionalbackup Capitol was giving the Beatles would also flow to his musicbecause of Heroes, he thought. And the public? It would greet Heroeswith the same level of overwhelming enthusiasm that the Beatles gotwith record after record. As it was, Capitol execs were divided aboutHeroes. Some loved it but others castigated the track, longinginstead for still more surfing/cars songs. The public bought therecord in respectable but surely not wowy zowy numbers. For Brian,this was the ultimate failure. His surfing/car songs were the onesthey loved the most. His musical growth, unlike that of Messrs.Lennon and McCartney, did not translate into commercial ascendancy orpublic glory.- Jack-------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: Re: pet-sounds-digest V1 #472From: Noble SurferTo: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com Date: Saturday, October 19, 1996 5:53 PMJack,this is something that has ALWAYS pissed me off about the Beach Boys.It;s almost as if Karma predetermined that The Beatles would beexpected to change and grow while the Beach