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- [00:03]
Brian
This could be considered a track. Not really, though.
- [00:05]
Mike
We don't want to do that.
- [00:07]
Brian
This is a little intro, you know, Brian.
- [00:10]
Mike
All right, here we go.
- [00:10]
Brian
Countdown time.
- [00:11]
Mike
One, two, three, go. Okay, boys.
- [00:28]
Brian
Welcome back for real to the Beach Boys. I feel like we've kind of cock teased, everyone. Beach teased.
- [00:38]
Mike
Yeah, it. Our hogs have been slipping out of our baggies and people have just been seeing the tip there beneath the four inch inseam. But now the baggies are off, we're fully exposed, we're open to the world. It's the 1970s and we're talking about the Beach Boys.
- [00:58]
Brian
That's right. That's exactly how I meant it. That's what I was going to say. No, we've. We've sort of dabbled. We put our. Just dipped our dip. The tip into the water and now it's all the way. And again, I'm sorry.
- [01:14]
Mike
To water you could.
- [01:16]
Brian
That's right. It was too hot before. We had to wait for it to cool down. If anyone was really mad at us for sort of doing a little bit of Beach Boys and then running back and then doing a little bit more, you can just be quiet now and I think we can all just get along and have a. Have a good time. And that's kind of the spirit of this album that we're talking about today. I would say is sort of like, all right, I know that we've been sort of in and out with being the Beach Boys in terms of who's in the band and what we're doing doing when it comes to being a live act or a records act. And I know we've just put some random songs from unfinished projects on the records. Anyway, we're back. It's a Beach Boys album. And you, you can get all of the Beach Boys things that you like on this one. And so please don't yell at me. That's kind of the vibe of this one.
- [02:15]
Mike
Who's me?
- [02:16]
Brian
The Beach Boys.
- [02:18]
Mike
Okay. Please. It's me. As in all six members of the Beach Boys at this time. Me and me. And me. And me. And me and me. Yeah, it's Sunflower, folks. The first record of the new decade for the Beach Boys. 1977:0 I'm excited to talk about this record. Do you have. I feel like in our off mic conversations about Sunflower, you have said you've sort of been letting this one sit and wait for your full attention. So it's one that you haven't necessarily glommed onto in the past.
- [02:51]
Brian
Well, I've glommed a little bit. I've, like, did a little bit of glom. Glomming. But mostly I was, like, really into surf's up when it comes to early 70s beach.
- [03:05]
Mike
Sure, sure.
- [03:06]
Brian
And, like, in a major way, more so than this one. And not in terms of, like, liking it so much. It was just the one I heard and really got to know. And I. I don't think I really heard Sunflower all the way through till, like, at least a couple years after I had already really fallen in love with the Surf Sup album. It's like that, you know.
- [03:32]
Mike
Sure, sure. Sunflower, for me, is one that I have listened to or had listened to quite a bit, you know, as a kid. I think I got into it around the time I really got deep on Wild Honey and the Smile, you know, the Smile sessions that were represented whenever, 2011 or whatever. But I don't believe I really, really fell in love with Sunflower. Sunflower was always kind of like, all right, there's another Beach Boys record I'm listening to. That's nice. There's some good stuff on here. And then I'm going to go about my day. It was not one that I really felt a great deal of passion for, despite being familiar with it. And I think that'll make for an interesting conversation here today, perhaps whether or not my thoughts have changed. There was one song in particular that I really focused in on in Sunflower back then, my glory days as a little young indie lad. We'll talk about that when we get to it. But the rest of this album is well worn to me, but maybe not well appreciated or hadn't been well appreciated. So just want to. Just want to set the table like that a little bit. Should we. Should we talk about the band a little? We've even in our Beach Boys, our intermittent Beach Boys episodes, we haven't really done much in terms of discussion of the saga, the California saga, you could say, of the Beach Boys. And now that we're finally moving forward in time, I feel like we can return to this topic. Does that sound interesting? Deal.
- [05:02]
Brian
Well, what do you mean?
- [05:04]
Mike
Well, I mean, talk. Literally talking about some information from the way the band works in their biographies.
- [05:10]
Brian
Yeah, yeah. Yes.
- [05:11]
Mike
Okay. Well, so it should be noted, 1970, the group moves to Warner Brothers. This is the first Beach Boys Warner Brothers release. We're done with capital. We're done with the crooks over there at the big, beautiful round building. Too much bad vibes. They're off to better pastures. Greener pastures bluer Skies, so to speak. Brian and company fall in with Mo Austin, the president of warners, and one Mr. Lenny Warrenker, who we. That's exactly. We saw him many times in the Randy Newman universe. A close personal friend and producer of Randy Newman. He's going to come in at certain points throughout this Sunflower record, so that'll be fun to talk about. But just to remind everyone of where we were last. Last we were with the boys. It was 1969 into 70. 2020 was the latest release, obviously a Beach Boys group effort sans Brian sort of up and down and all around. We had our Charles Manson saga as discussed at length with Hesse a couple weeks ago. And you know, Brian was kind of off just doing his own thing. But interestingly, I think there was a little more happening with the Beach Boys at this moment in time, or certain members of the Beach Boys at this moment in time, including, you know, Brian himself. Quoting returning to our friend David Leaf on Brian's biography, around 1970, once the beach Boys have moved over to Warners, there was another striking example of the inaccuracy of the myth that Brian Wilson was a reclusive non performing Beach Boy. In the winter of 1970, Brian went on a short tour with the group. Brian recalled when Mike Love was sick. I went with the group up to Seattle and Vancouver and the Northwest for some appearances. I was scared for a few minutes in the first show. It had been a while since I was in front of so many people. But after it started to cook, I really got with it. It was the best three days of my life.
- [07:08]
Brian
Classic Brian Wilson hyperbole. I love when he says stuff like that. I feel like he does that pretty often where you're like really like Norbit's your favorite movie, huh? Exactly.
- [07:18]
Mike
Norbit's the best movie. Be My Baby is the best song ever. That might actually be true.
- [07:22]
Brian
That one's true.
- [07:24]
Mike
In 1970 are the three greatest days of his life. We love Brian, but segueing from this. And this is going to get into a topic or sort of a mental model that I want to introduce here. And this is. It's going to be a technique or a subject that is not for the faint of heart. But I think we can, I think we're equipped to handle it now. I'm going to quote once again from David leaf. While Brian's 1970 tour is a little known fact, Mike Love's illness. Because Brian went into the band because Mike was sick. Mike Love's illness is even less known. According to Tom Nolan's 1971 Rolling Stone article. Mike was hospitalized following a three week fast that allowed him to only consume water, fruit juice and a little yogurt. As Tom Nolan wrote, everything got very amplified for Mike during the fast. He became quite sensitive to all positive and negative forces around him. He began to look at things rather metaphorically. The birds in the sky seemed to have a purpose in flying southwesterly. And if he could try a little harder, perhaps he could talk to the birds as Mike protested, quote, I'm fine. I'm going to Hawaii to mellow out. Mike's brother drove him to the hospital and said, you'd better check this guy out. They simply found out that he had not been eating. Once he started to eat and meditate again, he was out in four or five days.
- [08:50]
Brian
Wait, wait, so he's not meditating? That's part of the fast too?
- [08:54]
Mike
He's. Exactly. Presumably because he has been so malnourished and has such little actual caloric energy to draw on that he can't even sit down and meditate because he is full of water and pineapple juice and shitty 1970 yogurt. Anyways, this leads me to believe, it leads me to ponder. And this is following up on the conversation we had in the last episode, the Live in London episode, when we talked about those honestly swagged out pictures of Mike. He's shirtless with the sword and the dungarees and stuff. I would like to introduce the concept of cool Mike.
- [09:33]
Brian
Cool Mike.
- [09:34]
Mike
Cool Mike.
- [09:36]
Brian
I. I feel like that is an interesting word choice because this thing that you just described, is that cool. I know, that's like a thoughtful potential, you know, it's an interesting avenue that's, it's an under discussed perhaps aspect of Mike is his seeming committal commitment to spiritual disciplines of various stripes and colors. Is that cool of him?
- [10:09]
Mike
I mean, cool is sort of an imprecise word. I agree. I acknowledge that fact. But like, I don't know how else to describe it. And really I'm thinking of Mike love. You know, Mike love in relation to the Mike love that exists today, the one that we know and love. Ha ha. The one who is just, you know, sort of a Beach Boy terminator at this point. And Dr. Given to just play the hits until he literally can no longer draw a single breath and is committed to zero artistic exploration, zero attempt to bring any sort of underappreciated elements of the Beach Boys catalog out to light. Zero attempt at really being an artist beyond just the ability to get up on stage and perform which is of course, its own art, but the artistic adventurous spirit, you know, not so much with our present day Mike. And you know, what I'm seeing here at this point, upon closer inspection, deeper study, is that there was a period of time where Mike was like, maybe weird or like, interesting or like, adventurous. All of these words might be more precise, you know, some elements of each, but cool might be the easiest way to describe. Like, he just seems like kind of a cool cat at this moment in time. And I kind of respect where he was at, even if he was sort of daffy and involved in transcendental meditation and all this fucked up diet. Share like, that's. That's kind of cool to me. I don't know what else to say.
- [11:43]
Brian
Well, I think that there's something interesting going on here where, you know, you could look at that instance. This one in particular, I think is illuminating because when you explain that he's not eating, not. Not doing anything, I.
- [12:01]
Mike
This is not. I'm not. I'm not endorsing anorexia or bulimia or any sort of eating disorder. I just want to make that clear for the folks at home.
- [12:09]
Brian
I'm just noticing maybe a kind of a pattern that's consistent no matter what Mike Love is doing. Like when you described him as the Beach Boys Terminator, like his current iteration of the group and how he's run things, you know, running that Beach Boys basically almost cover band, like it's the Navy. That doesn't really feel that different in spirit from in another context. This same guy getting interested in meditation and then being the type who's like, his version of getting into that is this kind of Terminator version of that. Like all or nothing, almost kind of blinders on, like dead eyed, literally just starving himself because he's supposed. There's this kind of like.
- [13:08]
Mike
So you're theorizing that he's replaced the, you know, whatever kind of emptiness within him drove him to seek out Transcendental meditation and like, you know, exotic fasting routines. He's replaced that with just like this unending, you know, cyborg drive to play do it again as many times as possible before he dies.
- [13:27]
Brian
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think that there is such a thing in when there's, you know, a spiritual yearning as somebody who has a spiritual path or whatever their tradition or whatever school of thought. You see different types of people who are drawn to something like that, whatever it is. And even within something like tm, I mean, absolutely, within something like tm, I see a certain type Emerge. Like, you look at Jerry Seinfeld, big Transcendental meditation proponent Jerry Seinfeld, and just knowing that makes me think that transcendental meditation is not really a. I think it's kind of not quite a spiritual endeavor. And I might get, you know, catch some flack for this. But there are aspects of it that seem to me like kind of glorified self help or like spiritualized self help, as the case may be.
- [14:36]
Mike
Speaking as a spiritual man yourself.
- [14:39]
Brian
Well, you know, as somebody who has certain interests in that way. You know, I've. Yeah. More so recently, like, you know, went to a Zen retreat and you see different kinds of people even in that context. Like people who are there, who are. You can just tell, even though it's a silent retreat, they've got an attitude like. Or something's up with them. And then there's different. You know, there's different ways this can manifest. I guess all I'm saying is that I kind of see Mike loves Mike Love is cool. No, I mean, I just think that maybe there's different things that are interesting in the air culturally, that he. He grabbed. He grabbed onto this one at that time, you know, when these things were huge, you know, like the Beatles were doing. They were following the Maharishi and all of that in the late 60s. And it's not uncommon. I'm just seeing him kind of like his vice, like, grip just manifests in this other way. I don't know that it makes me think differently about Mike Love's character. And I don't want to essentialize Mike Love's character or anything, but there's. There's something not quite cool about it to me, even though the materials have turned the.
- [16:04]
Mike
We're back to the Beach Boys all of a sudden, and now I'm the Mike Love defender and you are the one that is down on love.
- [16:12]
Brian
I don't want to be. I feel like I'm being too harsh and I don't want to, you know, poo poo. I don't want to look down on anybody's attempt to get themselves straight in a spiritual way, for lack of a better word. But, yeah, there's a kind of a hardness that you see here in this example. It's like even being soft and sensitive is this. Is this crusade that ends in him being at the hospital.
- [16:46]
Mike
That's true. Well, fair enough. I think it's a. It's a mental model that I'm going to continue to ponder here as we. As we forge on into the 1970s with Beach Boys Cool Mike this episode of Jokerman podcast is presented by Distrokid. Over a million artists rely on Distrokid to distribute their music and get it into all of the places it needs to go. Your Spotifys, your apple musics, your YouTubes, your TikToks, your tidals, your Instagrams, and any other streaming service of note. Distrokid makes music distribution fun and easy, with unlimited uploads and artists keeping 100%. That's right, 100, all of them folks of their royalties and earnings. Distrokid comes with tons of great features, including Mixia, which allows Distrokid users to put the finishing touches on their tracks in just minutes, getting a customizable and polished end result that anyone can feel confident in before sharing it with the world. The Distrokid app is available now on iOS and Android, so go to the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store to download it today. Long story short, with Sunflower, another. Another flopola. Flopola of flopolas for the Beach Boys. Warners had big hopes for it. They actually rejected several versions of the album. It took them about 18 months to actually put this record together, which was a long ass time for a Beach Boys album back then. Three separate kind of chunks of recording sessions. Warner's kept saying, no, we don't like it. No, we don't like it. No, we don't like it. And then finally, eventually, they were grudgingly willing to accept the finished product that everyone was very happy with and felt proud of and had high hopes for, but completely just did not, did not move units at all. Got great reviews, but the Beach Boys were really, really having a hard time with being the Beach Boys. Making money. To be honest, that's sort of the story of 1970. With that, maybe we can talk about the album itself and decide for ourselves whether it should have sold more, perhaps.
- [19:10]
Brian
Yeah. Whether it should have made more money.
- [19:12]
Mike
That's right.
- [19:12]
Brian
I do just want to note the.
- [19:13]
Mike
COVID Oh, cover, sure.
- [19:15]
Brian
I think it's one of the greatest Beach Boys covers.
- [19:18]
Mike
Great cover.
- [19:18]
Brian
Classic cover. Not the best. I think it's actually like a really perfect album cover and I'm. It's sad to hear that it didn't sell that well because I feel like it actually is cool. If we're talking about cool, Mike. I mean, this is a cool cover.
- [19:35]
Mike
It looks cool.
- [19:36]
Brian
Everything about it is cool. And cool in the real sense. Like it actually is cool in the way that I would hope to like. I really can just put the. The Seal the seal of a. I think it's cool approval on it in the sense that it's like sweet and human and not pretentious. It's just tasteful and like really friendly and it's. It's presented really well. I don't know anything about it.
- [20:05]
Mike
Yeah. Love the little rainbow above sunflower. This kind of like purple, pink, orange, yellow color palette they've got going on there. Love sauced out pilgrim Al Jardine in the middle with that buckle hat and the like leather vest and the shirt unbuttoned to his navel and the Clark's Wallabies down there below. Incredible vibe coming off.
- [20:30]
Brian
Al Jardine stuns in the Beach Boys.
- [20:33]
Mike
Literally does. Literally does.
- [20:35]
Brian
And Mike for hit. To his credit, he looks cool and he's got. Yeah, he's got two kids. He's like kind of just. He's not doing some kind of hammy pose. Nobody is every. Well, I guess Al is, but he's pulling it off very well.
- [20:53]
Mike
Everyone else got the juice.
- [20:54]
Brian
Looks like a real person and they've all got their children and. Except for Bruce, who.
- [20:59]
Mike
Bruce is kind of just like standing there, like sort of weirdly.
- [21:04]
Brian
Yeah, he looks like Gilligan. He's dressed like Gilligan, basically.
- [21:09]
Mike
A little bit of fun trivia on this image. This picture, along with the rest of the pictures from this photo shoot of which there are several shot in dear old Thousand Oaks, California.
- [21:19]
Brian
No way.
- [21:20]
Mike
Yep.
- [21:20]
Brian
My home, my ancestral. I mean, where I grew up.
- [21:25]
Mike
Yes. You know, a part of. Part of the world, part of California. Near and dear to both of our hearts. Although I didn't. I didn't live in Thousand Oaks. I just went out to Thousand Oaks. You go to the Jans Marketplace very often?
- [21:38]
Brian
Yes.
- [21:39]
Mike
Oh, yeah, the Oaks Mall.
- [21:40]
Brian
A real dead mall these days.
- [21:43]
Mike
How about the Till? You remember the Tilly's that was there down the street? Ever go to that Tilly's?
- [21:47]
Brian
Yes.
- [21:48]
Mike
Yep. Yep.
- [21:49]
Brian
And I remember when there was the borders that then closed and.
- [21:54]
Mike
That's right, there was a Foxygen show at that border Open.
- [21:57]
Brian
It was called. Yeah, that was cool.
- [21:59]
Mike
That was honestly cool.
- [22:01]
Brian
I think that Daniel Johnson played there too.
- [22:04]
Mike
Whoa. That's way cooler than the empty Borders should have ever been. There was also a Dupars right down the street.
- [22:12]
Brian
There was. Yeah, yeah.
- [22:13]
Mike
It's long gone.
- [22:15]
Brian
There's certain things in Thousand Oaks that are still extant that are really good and kind of classic. There is Record outlet on to Boulevard, which is this. That little kind of shack. Oh, I know. Record store. I like that. Record store.
- [22:32]
Mike
It's expensive, but fun.
- [22:34]
Brian
They have good stuff there sometimes. Last time I was there, there was like just a huge stack of like somebody's let go of a lifetime's worth of per UBU CDs. And I found some crazy stuff.
- [22:47]
Mike
The Thousand Oaks Perubu guy. I love imagining this.
- [22:50]
Brian
This person also noted that Neil Young has been seen in and around the environs.
- [22:58]
Mike
Oh, yeah, Absol. I saw Neil Young at the. The Canaan Center. The Wizarding Center. That's right, yeah. Walking around the parking lot with Daryl Hannah at one point.
- [23:09]
Brian
Antique shopping.
- [23:10]
Mike
Yeah, exactly.
- [23:12]
Brian
Anyways, why was it shot in Thousand.
- [23:14]
Mike
Oaks by Dean Martin's former ranch?
- [23:17]
Brian
Oh, okay.
- [23:19]
Mike
Giant tract of Thousand Oaks. Used to belong to old Dino.
- [23:22]
Brian
Had no idea.
- [23:23]
Mike
Yeah. All right, let's talk about this.
- [23:30]
Brian
Slip on through.
- [23:32]
Mike
Banger.
- [23:33]
Dennis
Can you see what has come over me all my life is going like a big old tree. Cause I love you, baby, I do now can you see?
- [23:50]
Brian
It's good.
- [23:51]
Mike
Excellent. Oh, it's great. I love this song.
- [23:56]
Brian
Yeah, it's good.
- [23:57]
Mike
It is funky. It is dark. It is. You know, it is dark to me. I think it's a little dark.
- [24:03]
Brian
Why is it dark?
- [24:03]
Mike
When it gets to the chorus, you know, it kind of bursts open and Dennis is really wailing here. But I think at the beginning it's got a little kind of like edginess to it. Like during the verses and stuff, it feels grown up.
- [24:16]
Brian
Lots of people with no place to go. Yeah, I guess that's a little bit dark.
- [24:22]
Mike
Listen. For the beach boys in 1970, that passes as. As dark.
- [24:27]
Brian
But it's a. It's a very happy song.
- [24:30]
Mike
Yeah. No, I mean, it's not like a mopey, you know, miserable type of thing. I just. Maybe. Maybe adult or mature or grown adult is. Is the better way to phrase it.
- [24:39]
Brian
It is. It's a little bit more like. It doesn't feel like.
- [24:43]
Mike
Like Friends, you know?
- [24:46]
Brian
Yeah. Well, that's like. Friends is kind of a intentionally or not, you know, quite childlike, wide eyed, innocent feeling record. And this one, yeah, is a little bit more. I think of it as kind of a spiritual sequel to Friends. Sunflower. I don't know that. I don't know if they think of it that way or if anybody else has mentioned that, but interesting. I do see a kind. I mean, even just down to like the general palette, like the feeling of the COVID as bizarre as that original is. The one for Friends is like, there. There's something here that's like this kind of pastel Psychedelia, like very toned down, like kind of. Yeah. Sort of very subdued, but a little bit psychedelic, a little bit still hippie dippy that you have here. It feels. Yeah, like a more grown up version of some of that stuff.
- [25:44]
Mike
I see a little bit of that, at least in the branding and the presentation. To me, Sunflower is. And it is literally this, you know, but it's so theoretically and spiritually, to me, I've come to see it this way is the sequel to 2020, which.
- [25:57]
Brian
Was it is that.
- [25:58]
Mike
Yeah, well, like I said, it is literally that. But, you know, that record is the first instance of the Beach Boys making the collaborative Beach Boys record and trying to all participate in the songwriting and the production and the sequencing and, you know, figure out what it means to make a Beach Boys record when Brian Wilson isn't the one making the Beach Boys record. And, you know, there were some ups and downs on that record, as we documented, at least in my impression, in our conversation about it. And Sunflower, I think, is very much a continuation of that project. What does it mean to be a Beach Boys record? How do we make a Beach Boys record as a unit? But Brian is back in the fold here to some extent, and everyone else. That doesn't mean that everyone else has kind of fallen away at this point. And I actually, not to telegraph kind of my overall takeaway on this record, but I'm very impressed with kind of the artful way I think they're able to thread the needle on this album and really make it sound big and fresh and exciting and virtuosic, like a Brian Wilson production. And at the same time get in a lot of contributions from all of the other members of the group, even Bruce, actually, who I'm very impressed with on this album. I think this is them taking that 2020 idea or concept and actually, like, actually maybe not mastering it, but really improving on it and figuring out, yes, this is what, you know, we can do to make this happen.
- [27:24]
Brian
Yeah, well, I guess it feels like a splitting the difference between friends in 2020 and that you actually have a live and actively contributing Brian Wilson rather than this sort of cardboard cutout of stuff that they're just like, is there any Brian material that we can sort.
- [27:44]
Mike
Of the idea of Brian Wilson crop.
- [27:47]
Brian
Up and fill in the gaps on 2020. And, you know, Friends, I think, obviously also not a huge seller, but it. It's a mystery to me a little bit that it's sad, just like a bummer that this didn't sell because it feels like it has the best of both worlds of those two records in that there's that sweet and singular Brian Wilson touch and on something that feels like more pop oriented, like Slip On Through. Even has some of the same production techniques as like, Do It Again. That sort of really fast echo or whatever that is that makes the. That little almost like robotic electronic percussion sound. They put it on a cowbell, I think, here in the background. But yeah, it's very tight, melodic. And isn't this a Dennis.
- [28:48]
Mike
It is Dennis song. Absolutely.
- [28:49]
Brian
Dennis is really coming through, I think for the first time on this record, as like the one to watch. Like, he's definitely eclipsing. We talk about Cool Mike. I mean, this is Cool Dennis. And, well, it's. When you put Cool Dennis ahead of in the mix at all, you know, it's like Cool Mike becomes like a distant memory. I think Cool Mike was something that almost happened.
- [29:18]
Mike
But Cool Dennis is redundant. That's. Cool is just implied, you know, next to the words Dennis Wilson.
- [29:25]
Brian
I don't think it's redundant in the sense that it's not a given. Like, sure, Cool Dennis, come on. That is like what we think of, but Cool Dennis. But Dennis, who is not just cool, but also like. Like, I'll say Star Dennis. Like Dennis being like, not a background member of this.
- [29:43]
Mike
Sure, sure, sure.
- [29:44]
Brian
That's what we have here is like Dennis coming out and being very visible to anyone paying attention as a significant creative force. Dennis unto himself.
- [29:57]
Mike
The Man Wilson maybe picked up a thing or two from his old pal Charlie Manson.
- [30:02]
Brian
Mike.
- [30:03]
Mike
Cool Mike. Cool Mike and Cool Charlie.
- [30:05]
Brian
I taught him everything he knows, man. Yeah. Mike and Charlie arguing over who made Dennis cool. You. You, you. I taught him that. I taught him that. They both big man.
- [30:20]
Mike
They both probably taught him something about, you know, how to. How to choose sexual partners.
- [30:25]
Brian
They both try to. Whispered weird shit to him about that, I'm sure.
- [30:29]
Mike
Yeah, we can leave that stone unturned for the time being. Speaking of Brian Wilson Productions. This whole world when girls get mad.
- [30:38]
Dennis
At boys and girls Many times they're just putting on a show. But when they leave, you wait alone, you are there like everywhere. Like everyone you see happy. Cause you're living and you're free.
- [31:07]
Mike
Undeniable. Unbelievable.
- [31:10]
Brian
Huge, huge tune.
- [31:11]
Mike
Extraordinary. 1 minute, 1 minute, 58 seconds. Less than 2 minutes. This song, and it's a whole masterpiece right there.
- [31:21]
Brian
Ten pounds of art in a five pound bag.
- [31:24]
Mike
This is one of those. That's your new saying, it seems it's not new.
- [31:28]
Brian
I've been saying that but yeah, it's the only way to describe it when it's like this compact. But it feels. I mean, the things called this Whole World, for gosh sakes, it really does have, like, the whole. It contains the entire. The entire earth, but it's so small.
- [31:47]
Mike
Literally just an unbelievable song.
- [31:50]
Brian
It is to me also, like, very much like that other song on. On Friends, the. The Sun. What's that one called?
- [32:00]
Mike
Wake the World.
- [32:01]
Brian
Wake the World is. I think of Wake the World in this Whole World as being pretty similar in terms of like.
- [32:07]
Mike
Because they both have the word world in them.
- [32:09]
Brian
Yeah. And because, like, it's Brian Wilson doing this kind of like miniature about just like the reality of life. Like, just like wake up in the morning. It's like those William Blake poems or like there's something to it that just feels like he's getting at trying to just make. Yeah. Like a little bit of an epic. A symphony to God, a prayer in this pop format that is very special and just so utterly absent of anything negative. It just feels so pure and bright.
- [32:53]
Mike
It is an incredible song. I mean, no two ways about it. I am not over the moon lyrically on this song necessarily. I think Brian is at the point at this moment where he isn't, you know, necessarily quite as. He's kind of at this, like, middle, middle ground lyrically, where it isn't like just like, boffo crazy shit like, we're gonna get on love you. And it isn't like, you know, simplicity, you know, perfected like it is earlier. It's kind of in this evolutionary stage in between his ability as a songwriter lyrically, I should say. But musically, I mean, this song is doing so much. He could just be singing random syllables and it would be a major success. When that glockenspiel comes in, like, halfway through, I'm just like, I am flying at that point. There's so much. It's such a dense production. It goes through so many different movements second to second, and it's all just perfectly packaged together. It is like. It is full to the brim, but tidy and neat. I mean, I can listen to this song a million times and not get any less impressed with it.
- [34:11]
Brian
Yeah. And I think that the most impressive thing about it to me is that it's like, you know, it's really catchy. It's super memorable. But the actual progression of it, like, it's not like another song. Like, I can't think of another song that does this exact there. Odd chords, odd progressions. It feels really completely Unique. But it's delivered in this way that's just like. Oh, of course, of course. But you would never think to write a song that goes like this. Like, only he could do that.
- [34:44]
Mike
Only Brian. Well done, Brian. Add some music to your day.
- [34:51]
Brian
Is this. Who wrote this one?
- [34:53]
Mike
I think there's a co. Write on this. I think this is a. Brian Anna. Yeah, it's Brian, Mike and Jo? N. It was theorized at one point that this album would be called Add Some Music. This was considered for the title track at a certain point, but Sunflower ended up winning out. I get the impression this is not your favorite song in this album.
- [35:15]
Brian
It's okay.
- [35:17]
Mike
You don't like thinking about when you're sitting at the dentist and there's some. There's some music for you there too.
- [35:40]
Brian
Now there's. You know, it's true and it's. It's true that you can put. It's an advertisement for the idea of music. It's kind of taking one step back from like the I love rock and roll type song and just going like, hey, how about just music?
- [35:57]
Mike
Music in general? Absolutely. Come on.
- [36:00]
Brian
But it's still rock and roll to me.
- [36:03]
Mike
Rock and roll. That's a good type of music. Also. Maybe pop. That could be music.
- [36:08]
Brian
Country, even. Your pastor.
- [36:11]
Mike
Sure.
- [36:12]
Brian
Adding music to his.
- [36:13]
Mike
To his Psalms.
- [36:15]
Brian
Psalms, Psalms.
- [36:17]
Mike
When day is over I close my tired eyes Music is in my soul. Brian claims that's one of the greatest lines he ever wrote.
- [36:28]
Brian
Music is in my soul. What it must be like.
- [36:34]
Mike
I kind of love that, though, because it's like. It is. It is on one level, like completely replacement level. Just average. Pablum. Music is in my soul.
- [36:45]
Brian
Not if you mean it. It's not.
- [36:48]
Mike
That's the thing. Like, for Brian Wilson, music literally is in his soul. It is truer about him than it has ever been about any other human being that has walked the earth. So for him to write, music is in my soul means something entirely different than if literally any other person wrote those words.
- [37:05]
Brian
And every one of those words rang true and glowed like burning.
- [37:09]
Mike
Burning coal. That's right.
- [37:11]
Brian
Like it was music in my soul.
- [37:13]
Mike
There you go.
- [37:14]
Brian
I love that. It's just like, man, I've never thought to put it like that. That is so true. Yeah, it's good. You know, I think this. I don't. I don't hate it at all. You know, it's fine.
- [37:28]
Mike
This. This song kind of. Even though it isn't the title track of this album, it kind of has the flavor of the Title track of this song. I can almost imagine the six of them on the COVID in those outfits with the little. The little ones, you know, sitting on their knees. Like they're all kind of just like gathered around, you know, on the ground in a field and strumming a guitar and literally singing this song together. Like, it has that kind of. There's like a theme song quality to this song on the album Sunflower, to.
- [37:54]
Brian
Me, I feel that.
- [37:59]
Mike
I love also. You're done with music. That's fair. Yeah. You know, add. Add some music to your day. Add some podcasts to your day, too.
- [38:07]
Brian
Jokerman, when you're at the doctor's office.
- [38:10]
Mike
Put your AirPods in.
- [38:12]
Brian
Podcast there.
- [38:15]
Mike
Yes. Got to know the woman. Love this one. This is Dennis coming through strong once again.
- [38:20]
Brian
You don't even have to tell me that this is Dennis.
- [38:22]
Mike
Yeah, Anyone?
- [38:23]
Brian
I think that even if you didn't really know the members distinctly, like. And it's a thing that people don't know, like, who they are voice by voice, but like the vibe coming off of this thing, the funk coming off of this thing, that's Dennis.
- [39:03]
Mike
The concept of the song is literally just like, what if there was a woman and she was fucking. No, no, no. Not just. Period. What if there's a woman, comma, and she was a fucking smoke show, Period. That's the extent of the concept.
- [39:18]
Brian
Yeah.
- [39:19]
Mike
She just blew my mind.
- [39:21]
Brian
Got. That's just like. As much as Brian feels like music is in his soul, pussy is in pussy. Pussy, man.
- [39:30]
Mike
I've never so never thought about how.
- [39:33]
Brian
To put it like that. It's so fucking true. That is so true. I gotta write a song. You just made me think of an idea for a song. Does anyone got a pen?
- [39:45]
Mike
If you feel the feel. I feel you dig the feel of me.
- [39:49]
Brian
Feel me.
- [39:51]
Mike
Thank you, Dennis.
- [39:53]
Brian
Yeah.
- [39:56]
Mike
You know, that's what's going on. I think it. Musically, it's great. It's got this kind of rumble, you know, this is more of a rocker here. More of a bluesy rocker. And that build, I think that's going with the backing vocals is really kind of impressive. You know, the got to know the woman thing that's going on there.
- [40:17]
Brian
Yeah. I'll say. This is more grown up, that's for sure.
- [40:21]
Mike
This is. What's the. What's that other. That. The shitty, like, gross version of this song on 2020. The name is escaping me. All I want to do well.
- [40:31]
Brian
Yeah.
- [40:31]
Mike
Which we'll come back to later on this album.
- [40:35]
Brian
Right? Well, look, sort of. Yeah.
- [40:37]
Mike
So yeah, sort of. This is that song. But, like, a good version of that song, because A, it's Dennis singing it and not Gross Mike, and B, it sounds cool and, you know, kind of like they're both horny, but this is, like, it's cool that you're horny versus, like, ew, someone calls security. It's that you're horny.
- [40:57]
Brian
Yeah, it's like that meme with, like, hr.
- [41:00]
Mike
Hr yeah, exactly.
- [41:03]
Brian
But then it's Dennis being like, got to know that woman.
- [41:08]
Mike
Got to know that woman. That's right. I have nothing else to say about. Got to another woman. I think it's great. Perfect. Song four on Sunflower. Exactly where it should be. How about Deirdre.
- [41:26]
Dennis
I'll send away your tea. Well, we don't have to talk about it much more. The good things turn bad. But it's over now, so don't look sad. Cause you're over now.
- [41:48]
Brian
Lots of people missing.
- [41:50]
Dennis
Dear Victory.
- [41:55]
Brian
Who wrote this?
- [41:56]
Mike
This is a Bruce, okay? Our boy Bruce.
- [42:00]
Brian
It's got, like, a little bit of. Yeah, I guess, like, reminds me of. Geez, it sounds so much like the theme song to, like, a sitcom in 1970. It sounds like it would be, you know, it perfectly set. It could be like the Laverne and Shirley song or something.
- [42:21]
Mike
Sure, absolutely. Those kind of, like, descending, like, horns and flutes. Exactly. Yeah, absolutely. That is very much, you know, sitcom opening theme.
- [42:31]
Brian
Yeah. Like, you can. You can just imagine, like, the sort of, like, brown face and, like, wagging finger, and that's like. Look at the camera. Big smile.
- [42:41]
Mike
I love Deirdre.
- [42:42]
Brian
Like, chasing a. I don't know, a red wagon down a hill or something. Freeze frame and then, like, the stars. Yeah.
- [42:51]
Mike
Bruce Johnston. I think this is a great song. Very impressed with Bruce's work here. There's something kind of, like, wimpy about this song and the other major Bruce song on this album, which I understand, especially coming after Swagged Out Hard As a Rock. Dennis got to know the woman knocking.
- [43:12]
Brian
Everything over with this.
- [43:14]
Mike
That's right. Knocking over Bruce's xylophone with his big dick. That's an effective and certainly noticeable juxtaposition here. But I kind of like these softer, more mawkish notes that Bruce is bringing at this moment in time. On the last record, he did that Nearest Faraway Place instrumental, which is fun and fine. Certainly.
- [43:43]
Brian
It's cute.
- [43:44]
Mike
It's cute. But I think, like, Deirdre and the next Bruce song here, like, this might not be everyone's favorite Beach Boys flavor or note. And it isn't even mine, but it is one that I appreciate, and I think he's doing it about as best as he can on this record.
- [44:00]
Brian
I like it very much, actually.
- [44:02]
Mike
Such a pretty song.
- [44:04]
Brian
Yeah. And then I like that, you know, they. They really sell it, like, all the backing vocals, it's. It's very fully realized, baby.
- [44:12]
Mike
One, two, three and you're back with.
- [44:14]
Brian
Me Easy as that we all missed deartre.
- [44:17]
Mike
That's right. It's about time.
- [44:21]
Dennis
I'm singing in my heart I'm singing in my heart I'm singing loud to sing I love Sing it from my heart of the creation yeah. Of which I'm doing my part with an open heart and laugh over realization in my mind and now I'm for the child who want erect in humility Serving out of love for everyone I meet in truth who I really be.
- [44:55]
Brian
That'S what this one's called.
- [44:56]
Mike
That's what this one's called. I mean, if you're referring to the one after Deirdre and I just feel.
- [45:04]
Brian
Like I need to ask on all. Yeah. Who wrote this one? Because it's.
- [45:08]
Mike
It feels like a. I think it's a Carl. Okay, let's see. I mean, Carl's singing, certainly. Yeah, it's Carl, Dennis, Al, and Bob Birchman.
- [45:22]
Brian
Oh, of course. Bob Birchman.
- [45:24]
Mike
We know in the comments.
- [45:25]
Brian
Who's Bob Birchman?
- [45:26]
Mike
Don't know. You can look that one up. It's an interesting song. It's a song that, to me, on one level, almost kind of seems to speak to the Brian Wilson experience and the moment in his career that he's at. But obviously he didn't write this song, according to the credits had nothing to do with it. And so we must not necessarily ascribe this song's meanings to Brian's personal experience. But I don't know. The echoes are certainly there. I used to be a famous artist Proud as I could be Struggling to express myself for the whole world to see I used to blow my mind sky high Searching for the lost elation Little did I know the joy I was to find in knowing I am.
- [46:14]
Brian
Only me in knowing I would have three beautiful days on tour with my.
- [46:19]
Mike
Friend in Seattle and Vancouver the three best days of my life.
- [46:25]
Brian
Yeah, that does sound like it's about Brian.
- [46:27]
Mike
It sounds very much like it's Brian. And then I'm singing in my heart I'm singing in my heart I'm singing I love to sing from my heart that also just sounds like I love to sing from my heart Brian Wilson.
- [46:40]
Brian
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it has a really. It's really energetic and it's groovy. It's groovy.
- [46:48]
Mike
This is again, I think coming up to like, along with Slip On Through. Like, this really feels like the band has taken a step forward and is like, is operating on another level, a higher peak than they have been for some number of years.
- [47:03]
Brian
Yeah. And I think definitely impressive that early this early on in the decade that we find them, they are fully adopting what we now understand to be like 70s sounds. But I have to believe that on this record, you know, not many people bought it maybe, but I think people in the know were listening and probably being influenced by this in the industry and in the music making community.
- [47:37]
Mike
Sure, absolutely. I think that whether or not this is the reference point for a lot of what's going to come in the 70s, they're very much up to date at this moment. A lot of the late 60s stuff sees them out of step with the times, which is very cool in many cases, but they're not on the level with the rest of the musical world. Sunflower. I think they're coming back into tune with what's happening in pop music, rock music, at this moment in time and will go on to happen over the next couple years. This song also just like kicks ass. By the time it like builds up to this like huge instrumental kind of freak out. And that like honking guitar solo towards the end, like, that's. That's great shit. That's badass, man.
- [48:53]
Brian
Yeah, yeah. And there's just some really few curious drumming and percussion just like really lively. It's got. It doesn't feel dusty. It doesn't have like a lot of stuff from this era. Like I feel like, you know, a lot of 70s music in. And even early 70s, there's sort of like an overcooked like overstuffed production. Like this overripe late 60s thing that's just kind of oozing into the next decade and with like too many strings and all kinds of hammy effects. And this record just sort of manages to be pretty maximalist without being like stuffy.
- [49:39]
Mike
Syrupy.
- [49:41]
Brian
Yeah, it's sweet, but not syrupy. Like a good root beer.
- [49:44]
Mike
There you go. Well said. Tears the morning.
- [49:56]
Dennis
Ain't gonna tell me what to do don't know those tears I know they're just a warning Reminding.
- [50:09]
Brian
Me I'm missing you yeah, I mean, I like Tears in the Morning.
- [50:13]
Mike
I love Tears in the morning. I think this is the other Bruce song, you know, coming just two Spaces down after Deirdre. I love this song. And yeah, I completely like, acknowledge on its face like kind of a corny song. It's got these mawkish strings to it. It's got this very, you know, you know, sweet and wimpy vocal from Bruce. But I like, I think this song is beautiful despite all that or maybe because of all of that. It is very much a maudlin tune, but I think it's great.
- [50:48]
Brian
It's charming and it has kind of this European theme. It's like a waltz and then there's the accordion.
- [50:56]
Mike
Do, do, do, do.
- [50:58]
Brian
Again, I'm getting like sitcom or like comedic movie that's forgotten instantly vibes, but like, you know, montage of like guy with his head in his hands, like being rode around on a gondola in Venice, like crumpling up notes in his little notepad of like, I love you, when are you coming back? And then missing the trash can. It's like cute, sad, rom com type stuff that this conjures.
- [51:33]
Mike
Sure. Musically also, I think this is a great example of what I was saying earlier where this is the record where the band figures out how to be the band together with everyone participating and operating together, but doing that in a artful, more integrated way than they did on 2020. This is undeniably a Bruce Johnston song here, but at the same time, there's a lot packed into this song. It's a very complex kind of tune. Just look at the cred. You know, on a song like this, there's a bunch of violins, there's a concertina, mandolin, viola, vibraphone, you know, bass, drums, guitar, cello. And I think it really builds swells to this, you know, you know, kind of classic classical Brian Wilson kind of emotional catharsis by the end of it with these backing vocals and the way the instrumentation all kind of comes together and yet it's still a Bruce Johnson song. This is not a Brian Wilson. Right. Written song or production or. It is Brian Wilson production, but not a Brian Wilson composition necessarily. And I think that's not something that they do a lot after this point going forward. But I think this is proof positive that formula, when they applied it, absolutely, absolutely worked.
- [52:59]
Brian
I guess I'm reading, I'm reading these lyrics and it's actually like it really is Bruce bearing his soul. It's not very. Yeah, it's not. It's not that light lyrically. I mean, there's the part where he says, I hope you do what you're damn sure that's right. Like he's really. It's really snapping in there. He's really going off.
- [53:21]
Mike
Lose a wife, change my life. We're not together. A canceled future. I love that. It's hard on me. That's right, exactly. This is very, you know, harsh stuff from our boy Bruce.
- [53:33]
Brian
Are you gone forever? Hope you love the baby I'm never gonna see. Oh, my goodness.
- [53:38]
Mike
It's pretty brutal.
- [53:40]
Brian
But you wouldn't really know it listening to it without reading along or paying close attention to the lyrics. It's. It doesn't have like the. Like the Scott Walker song from this period. You know, he's got plenty of songs that are kind of in this vein that have much more of like a darkness. And, you know, similarly it would be like a mid tempo ballad with like European flourishes, but there'd be like some actual discordant, like undercurrent or dark cello or whatever. And this is just like Brian Wilson just smiling in the background the whole time.
- [54:23]
Mike
Music is in my soul, Brian. Music is in my soul Wilson.
- [54:27]
Brian
They call him Brian Music Wilson.
- [54:29]
Mike
That's right.
- [54:30]
Brian
Because on account of he loves music.
- [54:32]
Mike
That's right. All I want to do All I want to do not all I want to do All I want to do.
- [54:59]
Brian
It's funny to me that this Insane.
- [55:02]
Mike
Insane. They did this.
- [55:04]
Brian
It's it that they called it that. And then also that it's right next to Forever. And this, the beginning of it sounds like forever kind of.
- [55:12]
Mike
Well, I think the song that comes after Forever is weird, you know, because there's a lot of stuff that it shares in common with forever.
- [55:20]
Brian
Yeah, but you know what I mean, like the first. The beginning of All I want to do is like the notes.
- [55:24]
Mike
I see that this is the song that hooked me on Sunflower Lo those many years ago. I think we've spoken before on this program about our affinity or affection for the genre known as Chill Wave, you know, back in the day.
- [55:40]
Brian
Don't speak for me on that one.
- [55:42]
Mike
All right. All right. Well, I've spoken about my affinity and affection for it. You know, Neon Indian and Tohrui Moi and Washed out.
- [55:48]
Brian
Yeah, I just didn't really listen to too much of that, but I.
- [55:53]
Mike
You were listening to harps and angels at this moment in time while I was listening to Psychic Chasms. Anyways, this sounds like. This is what I glommed onto on this. Right. This is the Beach Boys inventing chillwave in 1970, basically, and doing that sound without any sort of the conscious kind of manufactured ideas that end up coming along with that genre 30, 40 years after the fact. But this is like on Life of Leisure, that first washed out lp, this is what he was going for in terms of trying to make a song that has this Vaseline smeared VHS tape left out in the sun too long. You know, put in your whatever fucking mad lib phrase that you want to use.
- [56:39]
Brian
Yeah, I feel that. I hear that actually. Especially the instrumental.
- [56:44]
Mike
The instrumental, exactly. That big, wide, bright, kind of like doom, doom, do thing. That's like.
- [56:52]
Brian
If there was maybe more. If there was a drum machine on this and you maybe took out a couple things, it could also sound kind of like a. Like a beach house song.
- [57:01]
Mike
Yeah, sure. You know, teen dream era, beach house, something like that. Or Devotion sounds, you know, great and like kind of spooky and sinister, like stoned and not in a good way kind of.
- [57:15]
Brian
But it's like so blissed out.
- [57:17]
Mike
That's right. You know, that's. That was another common chill wave descriptor.
- [57:22]
Brian
Kind of does sound like the Portlandia music.
- [57:25]
Mike
That's literally. That is.
- [57:27]
Brian
I know that.
- [57:28]
Mike
Feel it all around. Yeah. I think this is absolutely, like, whether or not he, you know, aped this song in particular for feeling all around like, this is 100% in the DNA of those records. And it was just this random song tossed off on the backside of a poorly selling beach boys record from 1970, which is very funny to me. Masterpiece.
- [58:22]
Brian
Yeah. Great.
- [58:24]
Mike
Come on.
- [58:24]
Dennis
If every word I said could make you laugh I'd talk forever I asked the sky just what we had it shone forever.
- [58:50]
Brian
Total schmaltz fest. But, like, not in the way that you can really. You can't fight it. You're Dennis.
- [59:00]
Mike
If you're Dennis Hard, Dick Wilson is the one that's going to make a schmaltzy, you know, serious beating heart love song. You gotta. You better sit down and listen up.
- [59:12]
Brian
Yeah. I think that this does speak, again, to the maturity of the record, that you're seeing a very distinct two sides of Dennis in those two tracks. And yeah, again, he's coming out in this record as like. Okay, maybe he's not just like the wild.
- [59:38]
Mike
The wild child.
- [59:40]
Brian
Yeah. He's also a real Romeo.
- [59:44]
Mike
That's right. He's the beating heart of this band, for better or worse.
- [59:50]
Brian
It's just. You don't know where that blood is going to be pumped to.
- [59:53]
Mike
Right. Yeah.
- [59:54]
Brian
It goes all through the body.
- [59:57]
Mike
It's a closed circuit, so it's touching each and every part, including certain ones. I'm glad to hear you on the pro, Dennis. Side with me here. I was worried that you were. Because I know that you. I've seen you begin to stake out some positions regarding like Pacific Ocean Blue, for instance, that.
- [60:19]
Brian
Yeah. A while back, I mean maybe you've.
- [60:22]
Mike
Evolved and you know it's going to be a while till we get there.
- [60:25]
Brian
But I haven't paid too much attention to it lately. I've. I listened to it like a few months ago and was just kind of like I think coming to it with the. On the. The wave of like hyperbolic praise that it gets. Which I think is. Even if I. Without. I'm not even saying it's a bad record right now. I just think like people talk about that record like it's something different than what it is. Like it. I think that he's really talented in a way that is under discussed. But he's not like more talented than, I don't know, Harry Nilsson. Like some people talk about him like.
- [61:10]
Mike
He'S like, okay, well we don't need to get into some non existent hypothetical comparing Dennis Wilson to Harry Nilsson, but.
- [61:17]
Brian
Well, I think that they're similar talents though. And that's why it comes to mind is like actually at their best like what you're seeing here between these two tracks. I do think of him, his songs as having some of that quality. Like you know, Harry Nilsson is like able to pull off just like a straight up banger rock song and you know, he can also do just a sweet, very original ballad and texturally just the feel of them. Like I. I really do see a kind of connection between the way they write. So that's, that's all to say. These are two really good songs and Forever is a great song.
- [61:59]
Mike
It's so sweet, incredible song and really I think the first glimpse into who Dennis is going to evolve into what he's going to evolve into in the span. We've had great performances from him before on records. Do youo Want to Dance? You know, a couple other songs on this record as well. Little Bird, you know, the Charles Manson songs, which I know some people are hot and cold on. All good stuff, all really strong stuff. But I think Forever is like the first. Is the first Dennis Wilson masterpiece. And it's just like that's not even an interesting take, you know, I don't really think there is a contrarian way to address this song or an interesting, you know, novel way to address this song. It's just like, you know, masterpiece, plain and simple. It's beautiful music.
- [62:46]
Dennis
I've been so happy loving you.
- [63:00]
Brian
Together.
- [63:01]
Dennis
My love.
- [63:05]
Brian
Let the love I have.
- [63:07]
Dennis
For you Live in your heart.
- [63:12]
Brian
Good news. Our sweet love.
- [63:19]
Mike
Our sweet love. The weird kind of cloying sequel to Forever. Right down to the lyric in which Brian repeats endlessly. Our sweet love could last forever. I think the sequencing choice on this song, you know, appearing here is. I think it, you know, put this song somewhere else on this record, guys. It. You're. You're doing a disservice to it and forever by putting it right after Forever. It's a good song. You know, I don't know that this is like the masterpiece of. Of Sunflower, but it's got some. It's got some nice notes to it.
- [64:04]
Brian
I like it. I mean, I can. I can get in the groove of like a. I feel like forever just lulls you into such a. A doe eyed stupor of just like, oh, how sweet that I'm not so mad at the next song. Also just being kind of like a big cupcake, you know, it's. It's sort of just like, all right, I can get on that page of like just sweetie baby music.
- [64:37]
Mike
I like it, you know, you don't have to tell me twice. I love a good sweetie baby song. I think it's a good song, but I think there have been so many peaks on this record at this point. And there's one more coming, you know, very shortly that, you know, I think this one again, I think if this appears somewhere else on this record or is a B side to a single or something, I might appreciate it a little bit more. But I'm already so high on Forever and I'm about to get even higher towards the end of this album. Our sweet Love is. I like to listen to it. I also like when it is over so I can listen to the next song.
- [65:16]
Brian
At my window.
- [65:17]
Mike
At my window.
- [65:24]
Dennis
He came to my. He came to my.
- [65:37]
Mike
This is not the song that I'm talking about getting high for. It's another song about a little bird. I don't know what to say. These guys love birds.
- [65:47]
Brian
Is this a mic song? Because after his. His break with reality, you know, that's a good. That's a good question with the avian type, Mike Love.
- [65:59]
Mike
Maybe he had bird flu back then. Did you notice? Did you see they're selling bird flu milk at Erewhon these days?
- [66:04]
Brian
Are you implying that the bird flu makes you think you can talk to birds?
- [66:09]
Mike
You know, Listen, I don't know anyone who's got the bird flu. I don't know what he does too.
- [66:13]
Brian
What do you mean bird flu milk?
- [66:14]
Mike
They sell raw milk at Erewhon. And there was. That's right, the cows have bird flu. And there was a particular brand of raw milk and, you know, batches within that raw milk that came from cows with bird flu. And if you're drinking raw milk, it's not pasteurized, so the diseases are just in there. And they were selling it at Erewhon. So you can walk right down the street and pick yourself up a nice, nice big jug of bird flu. Bird flu drink.
- [66:44]
Brian
Well, it's better for you because it's not.
- [66:47]
Mike
It is good for you.
- [66:48]
Brian
It's raw.
- [66:49]
Mike
It's raw.
- [66:51]
Brian
You know how everything is better raw. Dennis will tell you.
- [66:56]
Mike
Mike will tell you. You know, I'm sure Mike was drinking some raw milk on his Maharishi.
- [67:00]
Brian
I wasn't talking about milk.
- [67:02]
Mike
Oh, okay. Gross. The bird came to their window. I don't know what to say.
- [67:11]
Brian
Okay.
- [67:12]
Mike
Do you?
- [67:14]
Brian
No, I can't deny it.
- [67:17]
Mike
I think there's some nice. I mean, there's some nice. This is maybe the closest thing to. And maybe this is because I'm literally just thinking of like a song like Little Bird, but this is the closest they get on this record to making a friend song. You know, it's got that kind of stoned, almost like vacant, absent headed feeling to it. And there's some barely there lyrics. Much more about the vibe than anything else.
- [67:49]
Brian
Vibe and image. I like the sort of. Yeah, it's got this very vaporous, like. There's a very specific crisp quality to that vocal at the end that, like, that, you know, the outro. Yeah, like very.
- [68:06]
Mike
It's almost kind of shrill.
- [68:08]
Brian
It's very. Well. The whole thing sounds really well produced. I mean, it's very clean and like exact sounding. It's weird that, like, I don't think of till I, for example, Surf's up as being like a particularly crisp sounding record. It's kind of like muddy.
- [68:30]
Mike
Yes, very much so.
- [68:31]
Brian
And yet this one, which came before is just like so much more. If you told me that this came out later, like even later, like late 70s, I wouldn't really question it. It doesn't sound particularly of the. I feel like Surf's up sounds like it came earlier.
- [68:53]
Mike
Yeah, I mean, I see what you mean. I mean, some of the music on Surf's up obviously does come earlier. Frankly, I would chop that. I would lay that at the feet of just like. Sunflower is a Brian Wilson production. Surf's up is not. There are chunks of Brian in there and Obviously, Till I Die is one of the great songs, but beyond that, he, Brian, does not wield much impact or influence over that record, and he does on Sunflower. And I think you end up hearing that in the quality of the recording. As great as Surf's up is, of course. Anyways, let's get to the Surf's up, the song equivalent on Sunflower.
- [69:37]
Brian
What do you mean?
- [69:38]
Mike
It's A, the last song and B, a leftover from Smile and one of my favorite favorite songs, I think, in the entire Beach Boys corpus at this point, and specifically this version, actually the Sunflower version, which I have really kind of come around on and rediscovered here. I've had sort of a dismissive attitude occasionally about some of these Smile scraps that have been recovered and rerecorded and expanded upon and then just kind of plugged in randomly on an album. I think Cool Cool Water, the last song on Sunflower. Perfect way to close this album. Perfect execution and evolution of this song. Obviously one of the great kind of chunks of the music in the Smile Suite. But at this point, I think that this standalone five minute track that exists as Cool Cool Water, this is my preferred realization of this chunk of music. I think it's such a perfect, simple, effective, and surprisingly, to me, emotional way to approach this sound series of. It's like barely even lyrics. But I don't know, it's. It's a little bit of magic to me.
- [71:38]
Brian
I played this in the car for my girlfriend and she. She's not really. She doesn't really like the Beach Boys.
- [71:44]
Mike
Did she get annoyed?
- [71:46]
Brian
Well, I asked her what she thought and she said, well, you know, it's. It's a really a great example of finding inspiration anywhere because it's about water. So that was her trying to, I think, say something nice about it.
- [72:01]
Mike
Fair enough. You know, and, you know, I said.
- [72:03]
Brian
Yeah, yeah, it is, it is.
- [72:06]
Mike
She's not wrong about that. What I love about the Beach Boys is that there are things that are so simple and elemental and taken for granted by the rest of us. Music. Water, root beer, vegetables. And yet they are just eternally fascinated by them, endlessly interested in their implications. Things that you can do with them, things you can do to them, and they can spin some incredible music out of these concepts. I think that's Beach Boys magic. To me, this is the longest song on the record. There's barely even any language to it. And yet it is such a. To me, it's a very effective, fully realized, whatever assessment of a poetic ode to cool water.
- [73:06]
Brian
I like it, and I like water. And I don't think we take music for granted, but I'd like to never take water for granted.
- [73:13]
Mike
Certainly not.
- [73:14]
Brian
And this is, you know, reminders. Yeah. Not ever. Stay hydrated. It's important.
- [73:24]
Mike
In ocean or in glass.
- [73:26]
Brian
That's right.
- [73:27]
Mike
Water is such a gas.
- [73:29]
Brian
So that's an interesting choice of words, but, you know, because it's a liquid. And I also said that in the car earlier, and my girlfriend said, are you going to say that on the podcast?
- [73:42]
Mike
It's just revealing how the sausage is made here. Boy. She doesn't like the Beach Boys.
- [73:47]
Brian
No. What's.
- [73:48]
Mike
What's going on there?
- [73:50]
Brian
She just doesn't really like the sound of the harmonies. I don't know.
- [73:53]
Mike
All right, well, you're gonna have to. You're gonna have to work on that.
- [73:56]
Brian
You know, she. She also said I've. I've not listened to the episodes, you know.
- [74:02]
Mike
Well, that she shouldn't. That's good. That's gonna make her like the beach bullies less.
- [74:08]
Brian
Well, I don't know about that. I think that, you know, she also. She. She also doesn't really like listening to Randy Newman. She doesn't like his voice. But, you know, she said if. If he. If I listen to the episodes, maybe I would appreciate it more. And so I'm just gonna. For. In cases like this, I just like to let that sit. And, you know, it's. It's nice when there's a hypothetical that, like, I never have to really touch. It's just. There's always a little hope that, like. Yeah, okay. Yeah, maybe it's. She just hasn't listened to it once. If she listens to it, then. Then she'll like it.
- [74:41]
Mike
She'll get there.
- [74:43]
Brian
And for now, it's okay that she doesn't, because I really don't care. And she has good taste in music, but, you know, there's. It doesn't matter what she thinks about this song. I know it's good.
- [74:58]
Mike
It doesn't matter what she thinks about cool water. She doesn't think it's a gas, but we know that it is.
- [75:04]
Brian
She needs it just like everyone else.
- [75:06]
Mike
Well, then she should like this song.
- [75:09]
Brian
That's what I'm telling her.
- [75:12]
Mike
I love this song. I mean, I don't even want to really intellectualize about it or explain it. I just. This is. This is Beach Boys magic music to me.
- [75:20]
Brian
Yeah.
- [75:21]
Mike
Cool water keeps on cooling me.
- [75:23]
Brian
I like that. Like, those sound effects at the end.
- [75:27]
Mike
You know that, like, the water sound effects.
- [75:31]
Brian
Well, it's not quite water. It sounds like.
- [75:33]
Mike
Well, it's music, but it's like kind of. To me, it's like kind of a musical interpretation of like drops of water kind of.
- [75:39]
Brian
Well, there's that, but yeah, there's like a sort of. That is that other effect. It's like a rumbling.
- [75:46]
Mike
Hmm. Maybe that's the waterfall, the river. Those are other types of water features. And this is the Lenny Warringer note. Lenny somehow caught this snippet, heard this snippet from Brian from the Smile material at this moment in time at Warner's and said, hey, Brian, you got something there. I would encourage you to do something with that song. And, you know, Brian spun this. Spun this little web of magic. I think he. Brian ended up hating it or feeling like he made a mistake with, with this song because he was very, you know, touchy about the Smile material, understandably. But I don't know. To me, masterpiece. Three stars. Sunflower.
- [76:34]
Brian
Yeah, I give it three stars too. It's good.
- [76:36]
Mike
Much better record than I remember it being. And I always knew it was good and I guess I just didn't really kind of grasp it initially at the time when I was falling so madly in love with Smile and Wild Honey. But at this point I can really appreciate this for what it is, which is one of the high watermarks of the group and you know, just. And top to bottom, well put together album, which is not something you can say about every Beach Boys record that is about to follow at this point.
- [77:36]
Brian
Oh, you know, I was remind I. Before I. Before we stop talking about water. I saw that in, you know, in the tai chi book, the Lou Reed one. There's. Iggy Pop is in it and talking about. I think it was in that book. In any case, he's. He's really into water, into going in the water. He was saying that it's really important to just be in water. Not even bathing, not even swimming. Just. Just have your body in the water whenever you can. He says, Iggy Pop says just get in that. In that cool, cool water. So I was thinking about that when I was listening to the song and I think that it's good advice and it. He said it does something good for the body. I don't know. But apparently tai chi masters also seem to agree. At least the ones that Iggy Pop knows. And you heard it here, folks.
- [78:35]
Mike
Iggy Pop, Brian Wilson, Ian and Evan from Jokerman Podcast. We all say cool, cool water.
- [78:42]
Brian
Water is cool. That's going to be like our campaign cool, Mike.
- [78:46]
Mike
Cool water.
- [78:47]
Brian
Cool Mike. Cool water. Picture of Mike Love and drinking water, perhaps. And also maybe standing in some.
- [78:55]
Mike
All right, well, we're back. Whether you like it or not. I think you do. Thank you, folks, for sticking with us. On into the 70s we go.
- [79:03]
Brian
Watermelon boys.
- [79:05]
Mike
Water men, Water boys.
- [79:08]
Brian
Flower men.
- [79:50]
Dennis
Cool, cool, cool, cool water.
- [79:59]
Brian
In an ocean or in a glass Cool water.
- [80:05]
Dennis
Is such a gas Got a swim when I'm just too hot to move Cold, cold water is such a gr. In a shady spot I'm laying down Only thing blowing are the ants on the ground when thirsty and reach for a cloud of cool water Taste like such a game from the mountain down to the sea Cool, cold water keeps on cooling Cool, cool water Cool, cool water keeps on Cool, cool, cool water keep.