Loading summary
Transcript391 lines
- [00:00]
Host 1
Jokerman podcast is brought to you by Distrokid and their new direct to fan tool. Allowing any artist to sell merch. Distrokid Direct allows artists to create a merch store in minutes without any upfront costs or any technical skills or know how they'll take care of all the logistics and the nitty gritty. And as with distribution through Distrokid, they never take a cut of the proceeds. You, the artist, keep 100% of your earnings. Once again, that's Distrokid Direct. Open a store today@distrokid.com direct. Join the Human brave.
- [00:48]
Host 2
Welcome back to Jokerman and the Brian Wilson program that we do on Jokerman Podcast. Brian Wilson Live.
- [00:57]
Host 1
Brian Wilson Live. Brian Wilson in the 21st century. Welcome to the new century, the new millennium, A whole new world for Brian Wilson.
- [01:05]
Host 2
Yeah, the year 2000.
- [01:07]
Host 1
The year 2000. Remember that Conan O' Brien bit? You ever watch any Conan?
- [01:11]
Host 2
Not really. What does he say about it?
- [01:13]
Host 1
It was just sort of a funny kind of bit that they did where it was like in the year 2000 and it would be like they were imagining some sort of far flung future, but they would be it in like 2004, you know, so like 2000 has already passed. All right, well, all the Conan watchers out there, you know what I'm talking about.
- [01:48]
Brian Wilson
Political correctness strikes again when the term.
- [01:51]
Host 1
Homo sapiens is changed to alternative lifestyle sapiens.
- [02:05]
Host 2
Well, what happened in the year 2000? What was the, what was the, the future that we, we can look forward to in, in 2026? What, what's going to happen in the year 2000?
- [02:17]
Host 1
Well, it depends. It depends on what part of the year 2000 you're talking about. Some, some highs, some lows. The Lakers won a championship in 2000. That was a, that was a flash, bold moment for me. Legendary Shaq and Kobe team 6715 beat the Pacers in six. Brian Wilson also played at the Roxy Theater.
- [02:36]
Host 2
That's right, he played. And then also they made CDs of it. And I'm holding my hands one right now.
- [02:46]
Host 1
That's right.
- [02:47]
Host 2
Do you have the compact disc?
- [02:49]
Host 1
I don't know. This was, we should note, just recently, very recently reissued in expanded edition about two months ago, I think it came out in November. The first effort of what I believe is going to be sort of a pretty significant series of reissues and re presentations of Brian Wilson material from the archives now that obviously his career is complete and we're ready to look back on it. So there is a brand new Fresh version of this release available for you online on the streaming services and such. But you have the. You have the original article there.
- [03:23]
Host 2
Yeah. It's a different cover, of course. Brian Wilson Live at the Roxy Theater.
- [03:28]
Host 1
I kind of like that cover better. To me.
- [03:30]
Host 2
That's better. Yeah. The COVID that we have on this new version is very. It just kind of looks like more like a show poster. Like, it's. I don't know. It's fine. It's just.
- [03:42]
Host 1
It looks fine.
- [03:43]
Host 2
It's not very. It looks kind of. It doesn't look like an album cover at all. It just kind of looks like a show poster to me.
- [03:54]
Host 1
Well, yeah, the COVID of the original version is redolent of the year 2000. It's got this sort of solemn looking picture of Brian that's like not very artfully cut, layered like out of a Photoshop file and then just kind of pasted on top of the picture of what appears to be the back of a bunch of people's heads at the foot of the stage. Arresting graphic design here.
- [04:17]
Host 2
And yeah, some kind of like slightly art deco Y font for Live at the Roxy Theater.
- [04:25]
Host 1
Yeah, like very slight, like Batman, the Animated Series level. Art deco.
- [04:29]
Host 2
Well, that's quite art deco, I guess.
- [04:31]
Host 1
That is quite art deco, isn't it? Yeah.
- [04:33]
Host 2
Yeah. Anyway, anyway, it's a double disc. It's two discs. This thing so nice.
- [04:40]
Host 1
They had to press it twice. I guess you press a seat, you had to burn it twice.
- [04:45]
Host 2
There's two different sides to it. There's this one ends with Barbara Ann or. No, the bonus tracks are Sloop, John B and Barbara Ann. And the reissue is. It's got. How many more things does it have?
- [05:03]
Host 1
I think it's only got three more there at the end. It has those bonus tracks on there too. Sloop, Jean B and Barbara Ann. But it's also got. Wouldn't it Be Nice, Help Me Rhonda and Fun, Fun, Fun, all of which are great to hear but not like, not mandatory listening, I would say.
- [05:18]
Host 2
Version on the CD also does have an interview with Brian.
- [05:22]
Host 1
I saw that. That was. I haven't heard that. What's he saying in there?
- [05:27]
Host 2
I heard it either.
- [05:28]
Host 1
Okay, great. Well, yeah, those playing along at home, just listen to the version that's on streaming. It's pretty much identical, unless you have a beautiful compact disc version and you can refer to that as well. I have listened to the original version. I had the files downloaded as well as the new version. They sound pretty much identical. So you're not really missing out on much either way, I'm excited to be here. This is one I've been waiting for. I've been waiting for for a little while.
- [06:00]
Host 2
Yeah.
- [06:01]
Host 1
Yeah.
- [06:01]
Host 2
When did you first hear it?
- [06:03]
Host 1
I haven't been listening to it for too long, to be honest. I think it has been since the series began that I really discovered this. It was sort of a strange record in that it was, I think, only initially distributed through the Brian Wilson website upon its initial release, and it was out of print for years and years. And that's why this recent 25th anniversary repress is sort of a significant event here. So sort of hard to track down before November. You couldn't even find it on, like, Spotify or anything. But, yeah, I've been listening to it for a while and this is just. I mean, it's pure joy. It's pure light and love to me, listening to this album. I've been thinking about the Brian corpus a little bit more since we did our Imagination episode recently. I feel like we were a little tough on Imagination. Yeah, maybe a little too tough. Maybe I was a little too tough on Imagination. I feel like I was the bad cop in that one.
- [07:00]
Host 2
Yeah.
- [07:00]
Brian Wilson
Yeah, maybe.
- [07:02]
Host 1
But, you know, it is what it is.
- [07:03]
Host 2
We were just kind of both neutral cop, I think, on that one.
- [07:06]
Host 1
Yeah, there were. I had some strong words, I mean, for the Beach Boys songs that they went back and redid. Like, I stand by it. Dog shit. Terrible, awful. Anyways, we don't need to relitigate that. I bring this up to say, you know, I think with a lot of the other characters that we've spoken about, your Bobs, your Lou's, your Steely Dan's and so on. The arc of the careers is sort of steady, you know, there's like a steady slope down and then a steady slope up and over time. So, like, one album is often just a little bit worse or a little bit better than the album before it. And then over the long course of history, you can kind of see ups and downs, peaks and valleys. I feel like with Brian, what's unique about his, for me at least, is it's sort of schizophrenic in that, like, you might have one album.
- [07:56]
Host 2
Choice of words.
- [07:57]
Host 1
Well, you know, yeah, that's maybe a Freudian slip there on my part. You'll have one album that is just like the best thing you've ever heard or one of the best things you've ever heard, and then the very next release will just be like an unlistenable pile of dog shit. You see this very clearly, in the first two records, only one of which was ever released. Brian Wilson, 88, which, despite itself, is a fantastic release. And then Sweet Insanity, which is just, you know, a shonda.
- [08:25]
Host 2
And still fun to listen to. Kind of, though.
- [08:27]
Host 1
Fun to listen to kind of, especially for us. But, like, not something that, like, if you're just trying to listen to good music, I think you're going to find a lot to enjoy there. And so I think that it's been like that really, throughout all the records we've talked about from vine so far, the solo records, because the I Just Wasn't Made for these Times release. Fantastic. Beautiful. Perfect Imagination, the very next thing. Pretty uninspired. Here we are Live at the Roxy, his first live album. It's the release right after Imagination. And it is, like I said, it's a gift. It's a pure object of beauty and human spirit and optimism. And it's not what I would have expected coming from Brian, Coming from Imagination, which is sort of an inert and limp effort in many ways. But, I mean, I think the music speaks for itself here. It certainly has to me, ever since I started listening to it.
- [09:29]
Host 2
Yeah, it's a triumph, basically. I don't really have. I feared that I wouldn't have much to say about this, just because it's. It's the best possible version of what you would imagine this to be. Like, this is really the good ending taking place in not real time. But, you know, you get to, like, hear this. And if you've been following along or if you're just a fan in general, like, and, you know, what's happened up till the. The year 2000, like, unironically thinking about the year 2000 from, like, you know, the. The midst of the Beach Boys career from the 80s and 90s. To imagine at various points what Brian would be doing in the. The. In the year 2000 would be a horror. Like, it would. There's so many times when it would have been something you wouldn't even want to think about, given the current or the state that he had been in at various points during the 20th century. And then to have this be where he actually is is like a miracle.
- [10:46]
Host 1
It is a miracle. I think there's no other way to put it, because it is. I mean, you just listen to this music and it's extraordinary on its face. But it's also worth remarking, like, Brian Wilson live. Brian Wilson performing live. Remember the whole story from almost the very beginning of the beach boys, beginning in 1964. Let's say when Brian has his nervous breakdown on the plane and goes home. And that's when they call in Bruce, that's when they call in Glen Campbell and so on. And Brian turns into this, you know, creature of the studio that charts his own course separate from the Beach Boys proper or the Beach Boys themselves as they appear on stage. This the whole story of his whole decades long career has been he can't do this, he doesn't want to do this, he doesn't feel comfortable doing this. He's not good at. Just isn't part of who Brian Wilson is performing live. Performing Brian Wilson music live. And what's so extraordinary about this document about Live at the Roxy here, which is just a document because he was touring at this time. This is after a year or two, maybe a year and a half of touring with Brian, you know, Brian Wilson and the Brian Wilson band. Is that like he's so fucking good at this and everyone is so fucking good at this. They're all one. It's like, like you said, it's the best possible version of what this could ever even be. It's even better to me, I think, than like Beach Boys live records in most cases. You know, it's great to hear the original boys themselves doing a lot of the Beach Boys material. But like, I think just on a song for song basis, there's no question that this is just like orders of magnitude better than what even the Beach Boys themselves were capable of doing in live performance. And to have Brian Wilson be the one doing all of this at this late date in 2000, it's nothing less than a miracle.
- [12:36]
Host 2
Well, it's not just Brian. We should mention that. It's a whole lot of people helping out.
- [12:43]
Host 1
It is.
- [12:43]
Host 2
Who do we have on the personnel side?
- [12:46]
Host 1
Yeah, it's the Brian Wilson Band, many of whom are, are on the road with good old Al Jardine as the Pet Sounds band these days, captained of course by Darian Solanaja, friend of the pod. And you actually hear some introductions throughout the show. I think in the middle of the record they introduce everyone up there but Jeff Foskett, Nick Walusco, Probin Gregory, Bob Lyzik and Scott Bennett, as well as Jim Hines on the drums. So it's, you know, many of these people who would go on to do the Smile record with Brian, the Pet Sounds live performances with Brian. I think a lot of these folks probably were, you know, I wasn't tuned in to the details on this when we saw Brian back in 2015 at the Hollywood Bowl. But I would imagine, I think a lot of these folks were at that performance as well, along with Al and Blondie Chaplin. So we've. We've kind of assembled at this point the core unit of collaborators that Brian is going to be working with for, you know, the final 10, 15, 20 years of his. His career as a performing artist.
- [13:54]
Host 2
Yeah, and they just know. They know what they're doing when it comes to recreating the music and also just executing the music. And importantly, sounding like Brian when they have somebody else come in and sing higher parts. Like, there are plenty of really high falsetto moments, which, as great as Brian sounds, he just can't. Couldn't pull off at this point.
- [14:29]
Host 1
Yeah, you can't get there at this age.
- [14:30]
Host 2
I mean, most people at that age couldn't. Yeah. But there's some.
- [14:34]
Host 1
He probably. Even if he could, he probably wouldn't want to because he'd think that he sounded too much like a fairy tale.
- [14:39]
Host 2
Yeah. His words. But the. Whoever they have doing those parts actually sounds a lot like young Brian, I think. So anyway. It doesn't just sound like some dude. It has a similar tone. They get there. They're really able to get. I mean, they can't do the blend that the Beach Boys have. That's one thing that, as great as it sounds like, it does make you realize that the Beach Boys were special for a reason. It's not. It's. You're not making it up. Like your. Your ears are not deceiving you. It is true that the Beach Boys have a particularly beautiful sound, those guys.
- [15:24]
Host 1
But yeah, the voices specifically, that's. That's true. I mean, I think there are some great harmonies and backing vocals here. You don't have that particular, you know, just one in a million cocktail of voices that you had with the five of them back in the normal of.
- [15:41]
Host 2
Those cousins, friends and brothers.
- [15:43]
Host 1
That's right. But you do, I think what you miss in that, I think you make up for in spades with the actual instrumentation and the music that's made up on stage. I mean, also, keep in mind that, like, part of what was challenging about touring, a lot of Beach Boys music, and this show does contain almost entirely Beach Boys songs. There's a few Brian Wilson songs, but it is a lot of just like classic, classic, classic Beach Boys goods. Part of the challenge was that they were studio creations, that Brian had these big, huge armies of session players and advanced production techniques and all sorts of whiz bang gadgetry and stuff. And it was hard to reproduce on a live stage. Think about that laid in Hawaii unreleased record that we talked about, right? That just like kind of abortive version of the Beach Boys live performance in 1967, where they could barely get up there and do this, like, rinky dink karaoke version of their own material. And here it's like they're doing the whole thing on the high wire without a net, just live. Like it sounds just as good, just as big, if not bigger, frankly, in some cases than it did on the record. I just. I'm endlessly impressed with the music. I've got a little bit of history to deliver here about this, because this is, like we said, a kind of landmark moment in the Brian Wilson career. We'll go back to our buddy, old David Leif, who went out on the road with Brian in his initial run of dates. He was shocked at the time that Brian was going to tour. This was right before the Roxy, or year before, or show, a year before or so. And he said going on tour would turn out to be probably the best thing that happened for Brian in the past quarter century. He actually wrote a little essay for the tour program that would be used on this whole tour. I'll quote a little bit from that says Ann Arbor, Michigan. Monday, March 8th. This is, I think, the year 98, 99. The forecast of a late winter blizzard had brought us here a day early and given us plenty of time to sit around the hotel and nervously anticipate tomorrow's opening night of the tour. The first ever Brian Wilson solo tour. Yeah, we just witnessed a great weekend of final rehearsals, but nobody really knew what to expect. We were all pretty jumpy, except for Brian, who was as calm as a summer breeze. Backstage, an hour before showtime, all was bustling around Brian. He sat quietly, contemplating, meditating. The band and he had a brief prayer. Then Chicago radio personality Steve Dahl went out to welcome the audience. And finally, it was time. The final moments of the film play. They played a little film before Brian came out to perform. The band members took their places, and then Brian went out and showed all the doubters that he could do it. And the son of a gun made it look easy, as if he'd been headlining concerts his whole life. For me, the real highlight was seeing my friend share himself with 2,000 strangers. To see him be Brian Wilson on stage for 90 minutes was such an unexpected treat. The way he sang, bending old notes in new ways, revealing a sexy rock and roll growl. One moment, I don't know Brian. If I describe Brian's Rock and roll growl is sexy, but I appreciate the. From David.
- [19:10]
Host 2
Yeah, Maybe we can rock out or something later on.
- [19:13]
Host 1
Yeah, exactly. A tender, heartfelt sound. The next. The way Brian spoke to the crowd and in his uniquely spontaneous manner got us clapping. And how he applauded the audience after each song, making everybody part of the show. It was both sincere and something I've never seen anybody else do. And there's, you know, quite a bit more color about this in that. In that tour essay or that tour program essay. But he exits that and then, you know, reflects on it a little bit further. From the vantage point of 2022, there was no question that Brian liked playing with his crack band. Loved hearing how beautifully they recreated his classic songs. Loved telling his cigarette lighter joke.
- [19:52]
Host 2
Yeah, what? The joke. Can you describe that joke?
- [19:55]
Host 1
Well, we'll get to the joke when we get to it in the show. I think it's funny. Meanwhile, when I, David, had time in between projects, I did what I could to help. Like going to Japan for what turned out to be an unforgettable week. One of the more rewarding experiences of my Brian Wilson journey. Brian's tour included one show in Osaka and three in Tokyo. And in both cities, the venues were magnificent. What one might expect if you were on tour with Pavarotti. The concerts were all standing room only to sound perfect. And the audience respectful and enthusiastic. There was just one issue. Or was there an issue. Joe Thomas, who had produced the Imagination album with Brian. That was being promoted on this tour. And who had helped put the touring band together and been on stage for the American concerts, was still back home. Joe said he was afraid to fly. He kept promising to get on a plane awaiting Joe's arrival. As Darian Sanaaja recalls, we were all walking on eggshells. Then the tour manager, Paul Natkin, asked me if I was ready to step up to move to the front line because Joe wasn't coming. Darion was ready. He'd been preparing for this moment for his entire life, and he's been there ever since. What a cosmically fortunate series of events that Joe Thomas is too afraid to fly to Japan to perform with Brian. And Darion has to be the one to step up and become the bandleader along with Brian. I could not imagine a more perfect sequence of events taking place at this point.
- [21:30]
Host 2
I'm glad that on our last episode that we got to actually. The bottom of the Joe Thomas wrestling thing. Yeah.
- [21:37]
Host 1
Do you have any more statements to lodge about Buddy Love? Have you done some more research on that concept.
- [21:42]
Host 2
Well, apparently he's very afraid of flying.
- [21:46]
Host 1
The great buddy love God. Just completely inane. All right. And moving along to the Roxy, the concert's been so well received that in 2000, Gene Sievers, Brian's manager, thought it would be a great idea to do a live album. The venue of choice would be the intimate Roxy Theatre on Sunset in West Hollywood. The club has played host to an incredible roster of musical legends. Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Prince, et al. As well as the original stage production of the Rocky Horror Picture, et al.
- [22:17]
Host 2
You mean Al Jardine et al.
- [22:19]
Host 1
Yes, et Al Jardine. Have you been to the Roxy?
- [22:23]
Host 2
Yeah, I think so. I must have been. I have, yeah.
- [22:26]
Host 1
I haven't been too many times because by the time we started going to shows, it was like they were booking pretty shitty stuff there because it's on that strip of Sunset that is like, you know, it's like the. It's the like hair metal kind of dregs that are still occupying. It's like Viper Room type shit. They did book stuff there at one point. You don't think. What?
- [22:46]
Host 2
I mean, I don't think there's still hair metal bands playing at the Viper.
- [22:49]
Host 1
Room, but they booked a lot of like weird kind of like hard rock type shit at the Rock Suit when I was there. At least I do remember though.
- [22:58]
Host 2
What? Have I ever been to the Roxy?
- [23:00]
Host 1
I saw Foxygen at the Roxy. I don't know if you were at that show.
- [23:03]
Host 2
Probably I was, yeah, that was.
- [23:05]
Host 1
There was like a two year period maybe, and this would have been like star power era. So like 2013, 2014, where they were actually booking cool shit at the Roxy and Foxygen was one of them. It's a fantastic show. I think I was there, but yeah, I haven't been too many more times. Incredible venue, obviously, though only a few miles long. When Brian had cruised the Sunset strip in the 1960s and 70s, it was the center of the west coast music world. He might be on his way to his favorite recording studio, Western at 6000 Sunset. Capitol Records, just north of Sunset on Vine. The Beach Boys corporate offices in Hollywood, just north of Sunset on Ivar. The radiant Radish, his health food emporium south of Sunset on San Vicente. A favorite masseuse heading south on La Cienega. Or perhaps his preferred record store, Wallach's Music City at Sunset and vine, which I didn't know there was a record store there. Sunset and vine, of course, now is. It's a bank on one corner it's a bank. On another corner, it's that big, giant high rise building that has like a Chipotle and a Starbucks in it. And then it. The other corner is. The fourth corner is a Walgreens that I think is maybe closed now.
- [24:17]
Host 2
All the. Well, it was a Rite Aid. All the Rite Aids are closed.
- [24:23]
Host 1
That was a Rite Aid.
- [24:23]
Host 2
Okay. I think it was a Rite Aid. Yeah. All the Rite Aids are. Rite Aid is gone.
- [24:28]
Host 1
Rite Aid is no longer with us. No more cool record stores there. Not even Amoeba, which was just a block or two down. Sunset and Cuenga, as we've talked about recently, Amoeba is somewhere else now. In 1962, with the beach Boys, Brian had played at Pandora's Box, a tiny club set on an island at the intersection of Sunset and Crescent Heights. It was where, according to legend, he met Marilyn Ravel, his first wife. A few years later, that club was the Flashpoint for the 1966 riot on Sunset Strip, which was the subject of the Buffalo Springfield song For what it's worth. In 1970, Brian had played a couple sets with the Boys at their comeback shows at the nearby Whiskey, another legendary club that kind of doesn't book good shows anymore, but that was pretty much it. By the mid-90s, I think the only times Brian was on Sunset Strip was on the way to Hamburger Hamlet, a favorite steak restaurant like Arnie Morton's, or to buy CDs at Tower Records. He hadn't spent much time on the Strip in decades, but he sure made his musical return memorable. When these shows were announced, tickets sold out with the speed of an email blast. Who was lucky enough to be there. There was family, including daughter Wendy, nephews Jonah and Patrick, mother in law Rose and of course Melinda, Eva and I. David were there. Eva is what is his wife. The audience was filled with great old friends like David Anderley, Carol K. And Rich Sloan, Bette Midler, a long litany of rockers Jackie DeShannon, Nancy Sinatra, Elliot Easton, Jon Bon Jovi and heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont. Punk legend Patti Smith, who in 1977 gave Love U a glowing review. Peter Buck from R.E.M. opening Act Grant Lee Phillips and LA studio whiz John Bryan. There were industry figures as wide ranging as Russ Regan, who was credited with naming them the Beach Boys. The great Don Woz and American Records founder and record producer Rick Rubin. Legendary producer impresario Roxy owner Lou Adler cheered Brian on from the lighting booth. All watched in awe. Sounds like a star studded affair. There at the Roxy Theater.
- [26:35]
Brian Wilson
Jenny, all the stars are here.
- [26:37]
Host 1
It's true. Beardyman, Claude Racine, Dax Flame, Betty Fine.
- [26:46]
Brian Wilson
You got it.
- [26:47]
Host 1
And Raphael Fine.
- [26:48]
Brian Wilson
All the stars.
- [26:49]
Host 1
You really keep up with all the.
- [26:50]
Brian Wilson
Stars right here tonight. Oh, yes.
- [26:53]
Host 1
Harley Morenstein is here.
- [26:56]
Brian Wilson
All right.
- [26:56]
Host 1
And we also have comedian Todd Glass.
- [26:58]
Brian Wilson
He'll be hanging out backstage with some of tonight's guests.
- [27:01]
Host 1
And on the red carpet, we've got comedian Kulat Vai Lisak and host.
- [27:04]
Brian Wilson
I feel like Todd will be struggling.
- [27:06]
Host 2
To know these people. I'm sorry.
- [27:11]
Host 1
I'm gonna continue with the. What the computer says, Norm. Although I'd love to talk to you more than this computer, but I have to do what the computer says. Even though I really, I do love you, Norm, I think you're one of the best. We're also gonna be talking to the whole club.
- [27:25]
Host 2
Well, I'm no Harley Morenstein.
- [27:28]
Host 1
Here's a veritable who's who, and it is. I mean, it is a very intimate club. It's like 500 people. And I think that's maybe even overstating it a little bit. Half the club is also, like, these booths that are kind of set off to the side of the room. So it's not even like a standing room area for the whole crowd. There's like, half of the club is reserved for VIPs. Basically, Lou Adler types to sit there and nurse their drinks. And then everyone else is kind of packed into this tiny little club down below. So it is just. It's an extraordinary venue for Brian Wilson to be playing live, but this is where he's at. And, boy, what a record. Documenting the performance.
- [28:07]
Host 2
Yeah. Yeah. What a show. Was it just the one night?
- [28:12]
Host 1
I think it was two. April 7th and 8th, 2000. Just before my eighth birthday, in fact. So I think the songs are drawn. I don't think that all of the songs are from the same night. I think it's some songs from one night, some songs from another night, but kind of put together in the most attractive package possible. Man. We don't need to talk about every single song necessarily. But, like, the little girl I once knew that kicks this thing off sounds so incredible. I'm just floored by that every single time.
- [28:55]
Host 2
Yeah, that. I agree. That intro is, like, one of the best parts of this whole thing. And that song, I have to admit, I kind of completely forgotten about. And the song itself is fine. I think it's a good. I think it's a really good song. But that intro bit, like, the first 20 seconds are divine. Are Incredible. Like, it. It's kind of tacked on to a song that is. I would not describe as utterly sublime. But the beginning of that song is just like. It's amazing. And it's a. It's an inspired choice to begin this show, I think, because it's like a pretty. A very deep cut. But it doesn't matter if it's a deep cut to you or not. Like, that is. It's just a. A great opening bit. And the way that it opens also, I mean, I was just so charmed by. I think anybody who's a fan of Brian Wilson, like, in the Room, must have been just so thrilled that they are being given instruction by Brian to, like, play it like this or, like, play it like a little softer.
- [30:13]
Host 1
Well, I think. I think that that is, like, actually archival. I think those are actually, like, sounds from, like, studio, like, early. Early Brian stuff. Wait, really setting them. I think that is the case. I don't know that for certain, but his voice, he sounds so young. It sounds like young Brian there. I get the impression that that's him. You know, those are tapes from 1965 or 66, and he's directing, you know, the studio players making the classic records. And they're, you know, they're playing that as like a walk on, like, theme almost.
- [31:06]
Brian Wilson
Is everybody playing or what?
- [31:09]
Host 2
Okay, come in on that beat, Al.
- [31:11]
Brian Wilson
Real hard, you know, Go from the intro again, please. Play that intro. Soft horns.
- [31:18]
Host 2
Okay.
- [31:19]
Brian Wilson
An intimate kind of a sound, especially with the bass.
- [31:23]
Host 2
Well, that's. That's an inspired choice as well. I mean, I. I just didn't. Yeah, I didn't realize that. I thought they were just.
- [31:31]
Host 1
I. I don't know that to be the case for certain. Maybe someone can fact check us in the comments. But I. That. That's what it sounds like to me. His voice just sounds totally different, you know?
- [31:39]
Host 2
Yeah. No, that must be just an intro. Yeah. Wow.
- [31:42]
Host 1
Which is very fun, which is great. You know, I think that that's, if anything, that's an even better, more inspired way to be in the concert by sort of actively conjuring, like. Here he is, folks, Brian Wilson, the genius. The guy everyone, you know, had all these expectations pile on in 1966. Let's hear him in 1966 in his environment, doing Brian Wilson, 1966. Shit. And now here we go away with this just powerhouse opening to the song or to the show. Yeah, I would tend to agree. The rest of the Little Girl I once knew doesn't live up to that intro, which is kind of up there with the California Girls intro to me as just these divine snatches of music at the beginning of otherwise good, maybe not great overwhelming songs. Although California Girls obviously is. Is sort of a cultural touchstone. I just. Man, they have that nailed to the wall and just come out. It's still 25 years later. Listening on headphones. Feels like I'm getting blown away from the stage.
- [32:46]
Host 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just interested that they did that little dramatic flourish. I was tricked. I was fooled.
- [32:56]
Host 1
They gotcha. And then we're just kind of off and we're just off and running. I mean, so much of what I love about this record is. I mean, it's the music. Of course it sounds unimpeachable, but like just listening to Brian up there also totally in his environment, totally at home, totally comfortable, and just kind of like. Just like riffing and doing little Brian Wilson isms in between songs. Like, you get this either at the beginning or the end of almost every song. But he's just like, like at the beginning or, excuse me, the end of the Little Girl I Once Knew. He's already just doing like, whoa, whoa, whoa type of stuff up there. He's like. He's having the time of his life. It's so. I just. It puts a smile on my face every time.
- [33:47]
Brian Wilson
Thank you. Thank you very much.
- [34:00]
Host 2
Let's do it.
- [34:01]
Brian Wilson
Let's make some more music.
- [34:02]
Host 2
Yeah. His banter is really, really good. It's really, really funny.
- [34:07]
Host 1
He has like a stage presence. It's almost like an anti stage presence at some points. But like, I'm wrapped. No matter what he's doing, he has a kind of.
- [34:17]
Host 2
I mean, I've never said this, made this comparison, but there is a kind of Dr. Steve Brulian quality.
- [34:25]
Host 1
Yeah, I see that. Yeah. A donkey's bray, a chicken's balk, A.
- [34:37]
Brian Wilson
Squeaking rat's ticking clock.
- [34:41]
Host 1
Any sound depends on how you use it.
- [34:45]
Host 2
Could be a sweet sound of music. That's an incantation by the witch Doris sprang.
- [34:55]
Brian Wilson
Hi, I'm Dr. Steve Brew and welcome back to Chunk It Out.
- [34:59]
Host 1
Today's topic is going to be do, do, do music.
- [35:04]
Brian Wilson
We're gonna have a lot of fun.
- [35:07]
Host 2
Could be good.
- [35:10]
Brian Wilson
Gonna try to do music. So let's check it out, check it out, check it out.
- [35:17]
Host 1
Dr. Brian Brule.
- [35:20]
Host 2
Yeah.
- [35:22]
Host 1
Yeah, that's good.
- [35:24]
Host 2
How many cigarette lighters do you have?
- [35:26]
Host 1
Oh, my goodness. But like, he's just. Even after he starts whooping, hooting and hollering after the little girl, I want snow going into this Whole world. He's just like. He's so excited to get. Get going. He's like, let's. Let's make some more rock and roll music. Let's get it going. And then the van just, like, stands it up and gets kicking ass. Once again, the momentum of this set, I think at the beginning, the little girl I once knew this whole world. Don't Worry, baby. The first three are just like, man, they're soaring.
- [35:58]
Host 2
Yeah. Don't Worry, baby. Being like. Yeah. Woo. The first. Woo.
- [36:05]
Host 1
Woo.
- [36:08]
Host 2
Kiss Me Baby is the first one where it's just kind of like, what is that song? Is that a new. What does he introduce? That one is Kiss Me Baby.
- [36:18]
Host 1
Yeah, it's a Beach Boys song.
- [36:20]
Host 2
It's a pretty deep cut.
- [36:21]
Host 1
It's Today. It's Today material.
- [36:23]
Host 2
Okay.
- [36:24]
Host 1
I think that's Second side of Today.
- [36:26]
Host 2
You know, it's been a minute.
- [36:28]
Host 1
Sadder side. Yeah, there's a couple Second side of Today songs on this record. Kiss Me Baby is the first, which, yeah, I think takes it down a notch. But again, sort of speaks to, like, you were saying with a little girl I once knew, like, what we're doing here, which is, like, this is not difficult music to listen to necessarily, but it isn't like, it isn't surfer girl at the same time. You know, it's kind of something that you gotta remember and be vaguely familiar or even more than vaguely familiar with the Beach Boys corpus to be familiar with. So, like, it's a real serious appreciation of all the music that Brian has created throughout his career. Not just like. It's not just the Do It Again Lovecraftian vision of what the Beach Boys are in many other contexts.
- [37:23]
Host 2
Yeah. Mike Lovecraft.
- [37:25]
Host 1
That's right. Hopefully listeners are up to speed with a lot of the lingo of this series by this point.
- [37:33]
Host 2
Other highlights. I mean, I feel like we could go through everything.
- [37:37]
Host 1
I mean, we can. Yeah, we can do it. I mean, a lot of this stuff doesn't necessarily need to be, like, analyzed or remarked on necessarily. It's more like the accoutrements to a lot of the songs, I think, or maybe the song choices themselves that are worth remarking on. Like, Do It Again, which follows up. Kiss Me Baby sounds amazing. I know I've been the scrooge when it comes to Do It Again throughout this whole series, but hearing about it.
- [38:05]
Host 2
When Brian does Do It Again, I mean.
- [38:10]
Host 1
I melt. I don't know.
- [38:12]
Host 2
It's dramatic, it's resonant that he's doing Do It Again here. This is the good version. The Do It Again wielded for truth and justice. This is. This is. He's actually up there doing it again in a way that's not like the muscle memory. I don't know what else I'd be doing way of thinking about it. It's just. Well, maybe it is the what. I don't know what else I'd be doing, but in a nice way. It's like I'm in my place. I'm in the right place. I'm back.
- [38:48]
Host 1
When I hear. When I hear the Beach Boys. You know, the mike love Beach Boys do Do It Again. I think of its. I think of Do It Again. Like we're doing it again tonight and then we're doing it again tomorrow night and we're doing it again the night after that. It's like. It's this. This trudging like just like manufactured mandatory type performance. And when I hear Brian do Do it again here in 2000, it's like, no, let's do Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys again. Let's do 1966 again and pretend like that whole nightmare of three decades never even happened. Obviously some great music and great things happened during that period of time, but there were some difficult moments as well. And so the ability for him to just sort of snap back, flashback and sound this. In command of things with this group of people who are this willing to execute his vision, you know, and like, do what he wants them to do, do what he needs them to do. Like, that's. That's what I love about hearing this song here. So I think it totally depends on the context. Cause it is. Listen, let's Do It Again. It's a catchy song. There's no two ways about that. It totally, for me, comes. Depends on who it comes from or in what context it comes.
- [40:13]
Host 2
We have Back Home on here.
- [40:15]
Host 1
Oh, we love Back Home, which is.
- [40:17]
Host 2
Yeah, I know. You especially love Back Home, I think.
- [40:20]
Host 1
I think Back Home is one of the songs from 15 big ones. Not quite Just Once In My Life level, but I mean, that's one of the few Big Ones that was an original Brian Wilson composition on that record. And I think pretty. I think if that song was on Love youe, which it could very well be on Love youe, it would be remembered maybe a little bit more fondly than it is.
- [40:44]
Host 2
I really love the part where he introduces that song. Is this Isn't Love when. When he says the Flintstones have a new movie coming out.
- [40:55]
Host 1
Yes. Like, as if. Like that they're Fred Flintstone is a real person.
- [41:01]
Host 2
The Flintstones have a new movie coming out. And this song's from. This song's in it. It's this song from a movie.
- [41:09]
Host 1
It's in a movie. He repeats it, like, several times. Like it's just the most amazing thing he's ever heard. It's in a movie. This song is in a movie. And not just any movie, but a Fred Flintstone movie.
- [41:22]
Host 2
Flintstone picture.
- [41:23]
Host 1
Yeah, it's got all our favorites. Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble, Wilma Flintstone, Dino. We love them all.
- [41:29]
Brian Wilson
Thank you very much for the warm reception. This next song. This next song is a song that the Flintstones have a movie called coming out next month and be watching for this song in that movie called this Isn't Love. It's going to be in a movie. Isn't that great? Isn't that great? Here we go.
- [41:52]
Host 2
It's great. I love that song.
- [41:54]
Host 1
Oh, it's fantastic.
- [41:54]
Host 2
I think that song's great.
- [41:55]
Host 1
I mean, we talked about that on the Slightly American Music episode when that demo that appears there doesn't have any lyrics. It's just this piano ballad instrumental. I think that opens the collection of. Of bootleg songs on that record. And I mean, it sounds just as good here as it did there. I think Brian's verse is fantastic. It doesn't need the verse necessarily, but, I mean, he kills it here. It's fantastic. It's ridiculous that this is in a Flintstones and not even the Flintstones movie. We got corrected on that Rock Vegas, right? That's like the second one with, like, the. Not even the good cast.
- [42:38]
Host 2
Well, they've recast Barney anyway.
- [42:41]
Host 1
I think they recast everybody, didn't they?
- [42:43]
Host 2
Is that so?
- [42:44]
Host 1
With the. Yeah, I've got it. With the exception of Irwin Keys as Joe Rockhead, none of the original cast from the first film reprise their roles in this film. The film stars Mark Addy as Fred Flintstone. Never heard of him. Stephen Baldwin. No idea. Kristen Johnston as Wilma Slag Hoople. I didn't know that was Wilma's last name. And Jane Krakowski as Betty, you know, of 30 Rock fame. Jenna Maroney replacing John Goodman, Rick Moranis, Elizabeth Perkins and Rosie o'. Donnell. Wow, what a step down in terms.
- [43:21]
Host 2
Of the cast, but we've got Alan Cumming as the Great Gazoo.
- [43:25]
Host 1
Alan? Wait, Alan Cumming is in this as the Great Gazoo? Oh, wow. Okay. Well, I guess they got something going for him.
- [43:33]
Host 2
I wonder what his costume looks like.
- [43:35]
Host 1
Viva Rock Vavis.
- [43:37]
Host 2
I gotta look up what that Costuming was like. Cause I'm having a hard time pict. Oh, my God.
- [43:45]
Host 1
How does it look?
- [43:47]
Host 2
It looks exactly like the cartoon, which is really strange.
- [43:52]
Host 1
The Great Gazoo Flintstones.
- [43:55]
Host 2
He is proportionally.
- [43:57]
Host 1
Is he little?
- [43:58]
Host 2
Oh, he's little.
- [43:59]
Host 1
Oh, no. I don't like that he's little.
- [44:01]
Host 2
With a big human sized head, but a tiny grapefruit sized body.
- [44:05]
Host 1
This is disturbing.
- [44:07]
Host 2
This is terrifying.
- [44:08]
Host 1
Good lord. Maybe we should. Maybe we should do the Flintstones Vegas.
- [44:13]
Host 2
We've got it. We simply must.
- [44:16]
Host 1
We can back to back it. We could do. We could do the Barney movie that Van Dyke park scored. And then the Flintstones movie that there's a song in now.
- [44:25]
Host 2
Barney, Betty, Wilma and Fred have a.
- [44:27]
Host 1
Date with destiny in Rock Vegas. Universal Pictures invites you to cruise with the gang from Bedrock. Whoa. As they see the sights, take in the fights, And do Rock Vegas like it's never ever been done before.
- [45:08]
Host 2
To get between my shoulder blades, that's.
- [45:10]
Host 1
Where I carry all my tension. She's tense. I just found out what calamari means.
- [45:24]
Brian Wilson
Yabba dabba.
- [45:25]
Host 1
Do the Flintstones in viva Rock Vegas.
- [45:30]
Host 2
Stretch this out as far as we possibly can. We're gonna do this for another year and a half. Just finding other little tangents like that.
- [45:41]
Host 1
Well, yeah, I mean, that's a great song and it's great to hear it performed here. And it fits right in, I think, amidst all these other classics. It stands right up to all of them. Doesn't. Even if it's a song that people aren't familiar with at the time necessarily. It sounds like a great Brian Wilson song in here. I want to go back real quick before we scoot too far along to California Girls, which is after Do It Again. Did you notice the way that he introduces the song?
- [46:06]
Host 2
No. What does he say?
- [46:07]
Host 1
He says, so I think it shows up at the end of Do It Again. If you're listening to the individual tracks.
- [46:14]
Host 2
The way he introduces California Girls.
- [46:15]
Host 1
Girls, yes.
- [46:16]
Host 2
That. This is the. Well, I love that he. The way he. And the previous song is what? Before California Girls is Do It Again, do it Again. And then everyone's applauding. And then he's like, wait, hold on, hold on, wait, wait. He's like really trying to get them to stop applauding. He's like, oh, oh, hold on, hold on, hold on. And then he says, thank you very much.
- [46:47]
Brian Wilson
Okay, hold it, hold it.
- [46:51]
Host 2
Whoa.
- [46:51]
Brian Wilson
Wait, hold on.
- [46:57]
Host 1
Hold on, hold on.
- [47:00]
Brian Wilson
This next song is the Beach Boys main anthem song of their whole career.
- [47:06]
Host 1
The main anthem of the Beach Boys entire career. Of their entire career. And I think that's so revealing. And I love hearing him say that, that this is the song. This is like the Beach Boys is Brian Wilson. Brian Wilson wrote all the Beach Boys songs. Like, he is the Beach Boys. And yet the way that he's introducing California girls here at this point in 2000 is not as his anthem or, you know, a Brian Wilson track, but the Beach Boys song. And he, Brian Wilson is totally separate from the Beach Boys. I think that that little introduction is so, so deeply revealing. You know, I'm sure he wasn't even necessarily thinking about it along these lines, but. But the Beach Boys, they. This is their anthem. And I, Brian Wilson, am going to sing it even though it's theirs. He's totally kind of separated himself once and for all from the Beach Boys. And there's no looking back.
- [48:01]
Host 2
I guess that's what's on his mind.
- [48:05]
Host 1
I don't think it's on his mind, but I think that. That whether or not it is on his mind, I think that. That, like, he betrays the truth one way or another.
- [48:12]
Host 2
Yes. When he says it that way, I found it very funny that he's like, hold on. Then he just says something that didn't like. I don't know why he's trying to get everyone to stop applauding.
- [48:23]
Host 1
I think he's just. He's got a couple, like, bits. A couple rehearsed lines and one liners that he wants to get in there and he wants to make sure that everyone's gonna listen. Cause remember, I mean, Brian's a bit of a cat, he's a bit of a comedian. Remember, there's the immortal story of him taking a shit on Murray's dinner plate or something like that.
- [48:43]
Host 2
I don't think that was a comedian. I think that was out of hatred for his abusive father.
- [48:51]
Host 1
Regardless, Brian's.
- [48:53]
Host 2
I mean, I wasn't there. Who knows?
- [48:54]
Host 1
Brian's predilection for humor, whether or not it's always humorous necessarily, is well established. So I think he's enjoying being sort of the ringleader up there, you know, in the front of the stage. And then. So this, this brings us to the. The cigarette lighter bit.
- [49:13]
Host 2
Yeah.
- [49:14]
Brian Wilson
How many of you. Hello. How many of you have cigarette lighters here tonight?
- [49:19]
Host 1
Night?
- [49:20]
Brian Wilson
Let me see who your cigarette. Hold them up and flick them on. Let me see. I'll count them. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. I guess eight. Eight cigarette lighters. All right, put them out. Put them out. Okay, that's supposed to be funny. That was not very funny. Cigarette light, joke. All right, here's an old song that went to number one in the 1960s.
- [49:51]
Host 1
Put them up, put them up.
- [49:52]
Host 2
It's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
- [49:55]
Brian Wilson
8.
- [49:56]
Host 1
I guess 8.
- [49:58]
Host 2
All right, put them out, put them down.
- [50:03]
Host 1
And I get. I mean, so I haven't listened to a ton of Brian live tapes. So this was kind of the, you know, the main document that I had to go by. Judging by when I encountered this for the first time, I assume, oh, this is a little bit of funny, you know, spontaneous gag from Brian here. Judging by what David Leaf wrote in the book, I guess this was something that Brian did every single night at every single show. The cigarette lighter bit, it's.
- [50:32]
Host 2
It's funny.
- [50:33]
Host 1
It kills every. Every time.
- [50:36]
Host 2
It's a joke, it's a joke.
- [50:39]
Host 1
Well, he even says at the end of it, he's like, oh, that wasn't very funny. That was supposed to be a joke.
- [50:43]
Host 2
Yeah, and then he just goes on to do it every night.
- [50:45]
Host 1
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. He's got this stage presence that, like, he's anti stage presence in a way. Like he's aware of his own kind of Steve Brulish ness in a sense.
- [50:59]
Host 2
Well, he. I guess he does what he does and that's that, you know, he's gonna be.
- [51:06]
Host 1
Yeah, he's gonna be Brian. I mean, remember, this is the guy who says, you know what. What did Darian's. I forget what song it was that he said. But Brian started introducing the song as like, now this next one's got a little Chinese in it or whatever. He's a character. We love him.
- [51:25]
Host 2
What else we got? We got. Please let me wonder. That's. And add some music to your day. Those are in there.
- [51:33]
Host 1
Yes. Add some music to your day. That's the one he says at the end of this is another little Brian ad libber. And maybe not even an ad lib, maybe a rehearsed line. But at the end of this isn't love, he says, now this next song has got the most. It's got the most amazing lyrics I've ever written.
- [51:52]
Host 2
That's the one where he says, the music is in my soul. Right?
- [51:55]
Host 1
That's right. Exactly.
- [51:57]
Host 2
Yeah. Which is. Yeah, I mean, you can hear.
- [52:00]
Host 1
This is music can't help but emanate from his soul all across this record.
- [52:07]
Host 2
That is the most profound thought that he ever had.
- [52:11]
Host 1
And it is, in fact, profound coming from Brian Wilson.
- [52:14]
Host 2
Well, it's true. And the truth Is profound.
- [52:18]
Host 1
That's right. I love that. The song that he thinks has just the most amazing lyrics he's ever written is.
- [52:23]
Host 2
Yeah, he says that and then he's like, so just listen, listen to these lyrics. These are the best lyrics in the world. World.
- [52:32]
Brian Wilson
And now, and now for the lyric. This next song has the most incredible lyrics. I know I've ever, ever written the most fantastic lyrics in the world.
- [52:46]
Host 2
So be. Listen.
- [52:47]
Brian Wilson
Listen to these lyrics.
- [52:49]
Host 1
Listen to these lyrics where it's about like dentists playing music while you're having your teeth worked on. So, yeah, I mean, that's the first half of this, this record. I think they take a little break. They go off. They go off stage, they come back a few minutes later, they do the intro. Everyone gets their little moment in the sun and then there's this other. Just moment of, to me, like divine inspiration on someone's part. I don't know, I don't know whose idea it was to. To work this into the set, but. The Bare Naked Ladies. Exactly. Song by the Barenaked Ladies. It's just a brief little one minute interpolation of that song which I listened to the first time today. The Barenaked Ladies version. It's like, it kind of sucks, but it is also kind of a banger.
- [53:42]
Host 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [53:44]
Host 1
I don't really know the first thing about the Barenaked Ladies, to be honest.
- [53:47]
Host 2
Well, they've got, you know that song and they've got. Got that spin.
- [53:52]
Host 1
Oh, is that them?
- [53:53]
Host 2
It sure is.
- [53:54]
Host 1
Okay.
- [53:55]
Host 2
Yeah, see, and if I Had a million dollars. If I had a million dollars.
- [54:00]
Host 1
Okay. Yeah, I know that boy. Were you a Bare Naked Ladies guy?
- [54:04]
Host 2
My dad, I guess, was in 1996 or so.
- [54:08]
Host 1
Well, I know you like they Might Be Giants also. Those two bands are like kind of vaguely similar. Ish to me in my mind. Is that at all accurate?
- [54:19]
Host 2
Nobody's quite like they Might Be Giants, but I think that there's definitely songs that sound like they.
- [54:25]
Host 1
Yeah, there's like creepiness and like a like vague corniness to like some of it.
- [54:31]
Host 2
Dork.
- [54:32]
Host 1
Dork rock. Yeah.
- [54:33]
Host 2
Yeah.
- [54:34]
Host 1
How about Butthole Surfers? Do they fit into that or is that a different thing?
- [54:36]
Host 2
They're not like that. That's different.
- [54:38]
Host 1
Yeah. All these bands with these crazy 90s names.
- [54:42]
Host 2
No, butthole Surfers is like more. They're like noise rock.
- [54:48]
Host 1
Are they a little more like Ween or something?
- [54:50]
Host 2
I guess.
- [54:51]
Host 1
I actually don't know anything about Ween. I'm not even gonna open that. We'll have Steve lecture us about that on a Neverending Stories episode sometime.
- [54:58]
Host 2
Yeah, yeah.
- [55:01]
Host 1
Anyways, Brian Wilson, the Barenaked lady song, they do a little bit of a brief cover of it here at the beginning of the second set. And I think this again, is this the same way that the little girl I once knew blows me away at the begin. Beginning of the first set. Just like by the music alone, it blows me away. I think the sort of emotional resonance of them doing this Brian Wilson interpolation here is a striking moment because it is the song. If you listen to it, it's lying in bed like Brian Wilson did. I'm lying in bed like Brian Wilson did. And there's all these little kind of in joke Beach Boy super nut lyrics about building castles in sandboxes. And if you listen to the full song, they name checked Smiley Smile and Eugene Landy and Stu, clearly Bare Naked Ladies, Big Beach Boys heads. So respect on that level. They don't do all that in this version. But I think the confidence that Brian has and that everyone around Brian has in choosing to do this song, which could be like, it was not so long before this that Brian was in a pretty bad state. Still see the early 90s and even into the middle 90s when he was out of Dr. Landy's clutches, but not being productive necessarily. Like, it was not so far in the distant past that he was going through some more ups and downs, some serious ups and downs. And so for them to be confident enough for Brian and everyone else around them to be confident enough to do something like this and kind of be distant from that moment and be able to reflect on it and look back on it with. With some degree of levity, not humor necessarily, but like, he's not at risk anymore. This is something that. This is a chapter that's closed. We can look back on it and definitively say, that's over, that's in the past. And we can remark on it and reflect on it and, you know, kind of use it in a. In an unexpected way here in the present. Like that's. That's. It's a. It's a moment of magic to me.
- [57:07]
Host 2
Yeah. It's also nice that they kind of do it in a. Well, it's a sort of almost acapella.
- [57:15]
Host 1
Yeah.
- [57:15]
Host 2
Stripped down.
- [57:16]
Host 1
That's what I thought that song sounded like because this is the first place I ever heard that song. And then it was after listening to the Barenaked Ladies version today that I realized that that is not what that song sounds like.
- [57:27]
Host 2
No. No. But, yeah, I Thought that that moment was great as well. It's. It's graceful.
- [57:36]
Host 1
Yes. Emotionally rich moment. And then segues directly into Till I Die, which is just like. Oh, man. Unbelievable stuff. The xylophone, we haven't really.
- [57:49]
Host 2
Or the marimba, whatever it is.
- [57:50]
Host 1
Yeah. Said too much about the musicians in this thing. But, like, God, they sound so good. And I think that. Yeah, whatever it is, marimba or xylophone.
- [58:04]
Host 2
Is.
- [58:04]
Host 1
Vibraphone maybe is like the secret weapon of this whole. Of this whole set. You hear that so much on Till I Die. You hear that on a lot of the Pet Sounds material also. Let's see. Who's that? That's. That's Scott Bennett on the vibraphone. Yeah, it is a vibraphone. Or maybe it's Darian, actually, because he's credited with vibraphone also. Anyways, I love the vibraphone. The vibe. Yes. And good. Vibration of Phone Nations. How's that for a bootleg title?
- [58:35]
Host 2
That's a great bootleg title.
- [58:39]
Host 1
Sounds amazing. Till I Die here. And then we're just. It's. It's hit after hit after hit. On this. On this second side, you like Darlin? How about this, Darlin?
- [58:49]
Host 2
Yes. Yes, sure. I like this, Darlin.
- [58:52]
Host 1
Oh, darlin. What does he. What does he say? He says, this is. This is the best. Did he say this is the best song I ever wrote? He says that about something.
- [59:06]
Brian Wilson
This next song. This next one is the rhythm and blues kind of a song that I wrote. It's probably my favorite song that I wrote. Thank you.
- [59:23]
Host 2
Favorite song that I wrote is that.
- [59:27]
Host 1
Yeah, that's right.
- [59:29]
Host 2
Rhythm and Blues.
- [59:30]
Host 1
It's a rhythm and blues kind of number. Probably my favorite song I ever wrote. I love. It's like a. I, I, I, I say this with all the love in my heart because it might come off a little.
- [59:44]
Host 2
It's like Greg Turkington.
- [59:46]
Host 1
And it could be like.
- [59:49]
Host 2
Yes, it is like giving everything five bags of popcorn.
- [59:51]
Host 1
I mean, it's very much like that. I was gonna say it's like my dog. Like, every time I put a bowl of food down.
- [59:58]
Host 2
Oh, this is the best.
- [60:00]
Host 1
This is my favorite meal she's ever eaten. Yeah, she's so. It's like every time there's a new song that Brian gets to hear, he's like, oh, this is the best song I've ever heard.
- [60:12]
Host 2
And I mean that in that way. To live in the moment is. That's. To live that much in the moment.
- [60:18]
Host 1
Exact. That there's a blessed. You know, it's. It's a blessed way to go through life yeah. So you got. You gotta like Darlin, because Brian says it's his favorite. It's probably his favorite song he ever wrote.
- [60:32]
Host 2
Then we have. I think probably the other biggest highlight for me is maybe this. The section of let's Go Away For a While in Pet Sound.
- [60:40]
Host 1
Oh, man. Yeah.
- [60:42]
Host 2
Especially the Pet Sounds is just, like, huge. They. They stretch it out to almost five minutes.
- [60:48]
Host 1
They bang that. They like. They. They turn that into something like just heavy.
- [60:53]
Host 2
Almost make it into a jam vehicle. But it's. It's more focused than that. Yeah, but it's.
- [61:00]
Host 1
It's.
- [61:01]
Host 2
It's extended.
- [61:02]
Host 1
Yes, extended and loud and hard and rocking. Yeah, it sounds fantastic. That guitar. Just that guitar, man. Do do, do, do do do do, do, do It's. I'm blown away by it. It's another just absolutely huge thing. And you hear Brian again after this. You know, he says. After Darling, he says, now we're gonna do a couple. My. My band's gonna do a couple instrumental songs from the Pet Sounds album. I love it when anyone calls it the Pet Sounds album. Classic. Little bit of terminology.
- [61:33]
Host 2
That's one thing you like about the British people that.
- [61:36]
Host 1
Well, but Brian is saying it here. He's calling it the Pet Sounds album.
- [61:39]
Host 2
Well, British people just never stopped calling it that and around, you know, make it. Brian Wilson is the kind of guy who would also say that.
- [61:48]
Host 1
But I feel like it's just kind of like a. Like a retro. Like kind of an older way.
- [61:52]
Host 2
It's an anachronistic thing. It's like when people say, call a record, you know, people who are in the industry, they'll be like, that was a great record. Referring to a single song.
- [62:01]
Host 1
A single. Exactly. No, you're exactly right. And that's the. That's the distinction is a record is an individual song. The Grammys, I think, still has a category for Record of the Year, and it's individual songs. And then album. He's the collection of songs. I use both those terms interchangeably, basically.
- [62:19]
Host 2
I think most people do these days.
- [62:21]
Host 1
Yeah. There was a point in time when album was one thing and record was another. Anyways, after the band does these songs, I just. Again, he's just like. He's so thrilled. He's just shouting the praises of the band. Aren't they great?
- [62:38]
Host 2
Thank you.
- [62:39]
Brian Wilson
Aren't they great? Aren't they great? They're great.
- [62:49]
Host 1
They're great. It's like he's the. He's his own biggest fan up there.
- [62:54]
Host 2
Well, he gets to Hear it? I mean, it sounds great. And then he says he introduces Good Vibrations.
- [63:03]
Host 1
Yeah, you want some, you want some good vibes?
- [63:05]
Host 2
I think we can top it. Let's get one more. You want some real good vibes?
- [63:09]
Host 1
You want some good vibrations? Well, don't forget about the Be My Baby intro also where he's like, hey.
- [63:18]
Brian Wilson
Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait. How many of you have a favorite song in the whole world?
- [63:23]
Host 2
Do you all have favorites?
- [63:27]
Brian Wilson
What's your favorite song? What is it? Brown Eyed Girl. You like it?
- [63:35]
Host 1
Really? Really?
- [63:38]
Brian Wilson
I'll be God damn. Well, here's one that I like. My very favorite record in the universe by the fabulous Phil Spector.
- [63:47]
Host 1
It's called Be My Baby.
- [63:49]
Host 2
Brian, of course they're playing me my baby.
- [63:51]
Host 1
You got to watch out for Colin Phil Spector, fabulous.
- [63:53]
Host 2
No, he doesn't have to watch out for calling. He's the. He does not have to watch out for that. He's. He's the one guy on earth who can say positive things without reserve about Phil Spector.
- [64:07]
Host 1
It's like I've been listening to another Phil Spector record that we're going to be talking about in the not too distant future. It's. It's so good and so up.
- [64:17]
Host 2
I mean Phil Spector is. He was something can be fabulous without being nice.
- [64:26]
Host 1
Good. Sure. Lay Down Burden also should be noted appears here, the one Imagination shall excuse me. Imagination. Imagination song. And I think this is what I was saying when we talked about Imagination, like that song Far and Away. To me, I think the best thing on that record here, Brian explicitly dedicates it to Carl.
- [64:50]
Host 2
Yeah.
- [64:52]
Host 1
And it sounds fantastic here. And this is my preferred way of listening to that song. I think this is a much better version of that song. As good as it is on Imagination. But I think that speaks to the quality of that song's bones in the context of, you know, everything else on that record it was a little more maybe up and up and down, shall we say?
- [65:14]
Host 2
Yeah, I think that it's a. A great, it's a great song.
- [65:18]
Host 1
What do you.
- [65:19]
Host 2
Yeah, it's as good as. As any of the late Brian songs. I mean it's. I would say it's as good as, as Love and Mercy.
- [65:30]
Host 1
Yeah, I think, you know, Love and Mercy and Lay Down Burden, Melt Away. These are all, you know, peak, top tier Brian Wilson compositions and we don't really get a ton of Brian Wilson solo material here. It ends on Love and Mercy, which is a very nice song to close on. I think that's the perfect note, obviously.
- [65:53]
Host 2
You know what else? I mean, we haven't gotten to it, but I think One Kind of Love from the movie Love and Mercy is one of his best songs.
- [66:01]
Host 1
I love that song from the, the, The Cusack soundtrack.
- [66:05]
Host 2
Yeah. When are we going to talk about that?
- [66:08]
Host 1
It's coming up. I think that was a 2014 release, so don't worry, it's on the calendar.
- [66:12]
Host 2
All right. All right.
- [66:13]
Host 1
We're going to get there anyways. You know, what a great record. A couple other songs. Caroline. I love. He, he, he says it a couple times. I forget exactly when maybe it's going into. Caroline. No, but he's, he's always saying, like, now we're going to do sort of a girly one. So instead, sort of, sort of a sad, slow bit of a girly song. And then after that, maybe we'll rock out again.
- [66:35]
Host 2
Yeah, he keeps saying, like, maybe we'll. Maybe we'll rock out or something. Maybe we can do a real rock out a little bit now.
- [66:45]
Host 1
I love rock and roll.
- [66:47]
Host 2
Now.
- [66:47]
Host 1
He's implicit in these statements is like the slower, sadder songs, that's girly music. And then the happy, faster songs, that's masculine, that's strong, that's virile music.
- [67:03]
Host 2
That's rock and roll music.
- [67:04]
Host 1
The two genders of songs in Brian Wilson's brain. I'll also just say All Summer Long sounds amazing here. That song has rocketed up my estimations over time as one of. I think I maybe overlooked that song a little bit when we talked about it initially on the All Summer Long record. Or, excuse me, the All Summer Long album, I should say. But I think that's right up there with like, Help Me Rhonda and Let Him Run Wild and Salt Lake City as early, early Beach Boys classics.
- [67:39]
Host 2
Yeah. Up there with Salt Lake City.
- [67:41]
Host 1
Up there with Salt Lake City. Any, any, Any last statements to lodge on Brian Wilson Live at the Roxy Theater?
- [67:52]
Host 2
No.
- [67:52]
Host 1
Look at that. We filled an hour and you know, nice and easy.
- [67:55]
Host 2
Yeah, I mean, I think we just talked about it. We talked about it and it's great. It's great. Three stars.
- [68:02]
Host 1
It's great. It's great.
- [68:04]
Host 2
Yeah.
- [68:04]
Host 1
Three stars. We should start doing that at the end of every podcast because we're so excited about what a great performance we just gave.
- [68:13]
Host 2
Woo.
- [68:14]
Host 1
Woo. Just start clapping for ourselves because Brian.
- [68:18]
Host 2
Was clapping for each other. Each other.
- [68:21]
Host 1
Yeah, good point. Good point.
- [68:24]
Host 2
Oh, how about that? How about that podcast?
- [68:26]
Host 1
Isn't he great? This is my co host. Isn't he great? He's Great.
- [68:30]
Host 2
He is like the good version of whatever is wrong with Donald Trump also. I mean, he. He has. He has some of that, but it's. It's. And I. I know some people would instantly want me beheaded for saying such a thing, but, you know, there's.
- [68:45]
Host 1
There's.
- [68:46]
Host 2
Whatever that thing is that keeps you from. That makes you ever laugh when Donald Trump says something or the thing that made people like him in the first place, that wasn't politics. Brian's got some of that magic. Some of that magic.
- [69:05]
Host 1
That's right.
- [69:05]
Host 2
He's got that fairy dust that. Whatever it is.
- [69:12]
Host 1
No, don't. Don't say fairy dust. Brian would take offense.
- [69:15]
Host 2
He's got that rock and roll.
- [69:16]
Host 1
That's right. That rock and roll dust. Okay. Brian Wilson live at the Roxy Theater. Three stars. Perfect record, perfect music. Jokerman. It sounds like it was a really fun show, real intimate.
- [69:31]
Brian Wilson
We had a good time that night. It was really a very small crowd, but it was very intimate, you know, so I got off on this. The intimacy of it was really fun. Do you prefer an intimate, kind of a smaller crowd when you're playing live or. Or one of the bigger houses? I like the small ones. It's easier to sing to, and I get a more closer relationship with the audience, you know what I mean? Lou Adler, my friend Lou Ader owns the Roxy. Yeah, I knew him in the 60s. Yeah.
- [69:55]
Host 1
Were you nervous at all when you started the show?
- [69:57]
Brian Wilson
Oh, I was very nervous, yeah. Butterflies in my stomach. Soon as the first quarter of the first song started, I felt okay. I was like, that was cool. It was like a reunion kind of thing for me.
- [70:07]
Host 2
Yeah.
- [70:08]
Brian Wilson
Are there any particular songs that you were especially proud of or that you were really happy with the way it turned out? California Girls was a very, very favorite of that night in the show. I love that song, California Girls. It was very interesting. And that was also the first night that you played the first time. That has got to be one of the greatest lyrics I've ever written, I tell you that. It really was a good lyric and everybody liked it, too. I think people were a little surprised to hear you singing a little piece.
- [70:39]
Host 1
Of the Bare Naked lady song, Brian Wilson.
- [70:41]
Brian Wilson
Yeah, that was my wife's idea. She wanted me to do it, so I did it. That. That actually gets a big. A big laugh from the crowd. It puts everyone. I know it put everybody ease. Yeah. Let's go away for a while. And Pet Songs. Oh, those two are the fantastic instrumentals. They're really good. You know, they're placed perfectly in the show. They really sound good too. I like the, the vibraphones. I think that really carries. Let's go away for a while. Back Home is a song that you always seem to have just the greatest time with, you know. Oh, I love that song. I love it. It's like. But I'm going back this summer to.
- [71:15]
Host 1
Ohio.
- [71:19]
Brian Wilson
Look up all my friends I've.
- [71:21]
Host 1
Always known.
- [71:25]
Brian Wilson
I'm going back to that farm that I remember well, I'm gonna spend my summer back home yeah As I look this over I say Please let me wonder and the first time are both got excellent, excellent response from the audience. Really good. How did you feel hearing the tapes back when you were mixing it and putting it together? It was pretty nostalgic. I felt kind of sentimental about it, you know. Tell me about the vibe that you get with the members of the band. Oh, I get so much security from them, you know. You can never guess. Jeff has got to be the best band leader I've ever known. Except for Carl. He's got to be the best band leader I've ever known. And one of them is. Are the greatest group I've ever known, you know. But they're all great musicians. They all sing great. Proven is the most excellent trumpet player I've ever heard. His trumpet is unbelievable and he sings like an angel. The guy is absolutely great. Jim Hines is the greatest drummer I've ever worked with. Except for Hale Blaine, the second greatest drummer I've ever worked with. Darian is the best overall musician on the stage. He's the most knowledgeable of beachbody music. Of all the guys. He's really good. Scott Bennett is the most versatile musician on the stage. His ability to play vibes is very good. His ability to sing is good and he's just an all around musician. Mike Tamico is our percussionist. I've never known a guy who can play that fast. I watch him play and I go.
- [72:54]
Host 1
How can he do that?
- [72:55]
Brian Wilson
But he does. Taylor Mille is not only she a pretty girl, but she's a great singer. And she must feel lonely after being the the only girl on stage. She'd probably just feel a bit lonely. How about Nick? Oh, Nikki's the greatest. He's the greatest guy in the world. Oh, he's a wonderful musician. Wonderful great guitar player. Paul Merton's I Got Tears in My Eyes on one of our concerts. He's just watching him play the instrumental break to help me Rhonda. Bob on the bass. Bob the way he. He feels his bass like he puts it up to his chest and he just feels his bass as he's playing. You can feel the love he has for his instrument. Would these guys have have been pretty good back in the 60s? Oh, they have been great. Are you kidding? They have been fantastic. Why couldn't we have done it in the 60s? You know, why not? Do you have anything else that you'd like people who are buying the record.
- [73:38]
Host 1
To know about it?
- [73:39]
Brian Wilson
Well, I hope you. I hope they enjoy it as much as we enjoyed doing it. Cuz we really got off heavy on it, you know. It was great.
- [73:53]
Host 1
Sam.