alternatehistory.com
Part 1 - The Beach Boys - Smile
“Now, just 'cos I'm letting you record this doesn't mean it's on the record, right? You can tell this story when we're all dead and you tell it accurately. Don't put a slant on it. The reason the facts got fudged is because we know how everyone loves to play the blame game. It's just something unfortunate that happened and something good came out of it. No heroes and villains, pun completely intended.
“OK, the official story isn't true, it wasn't a piece of equipment that fell on Brian. The conspiracies aren't true either. There was no psychotic episode, no drug overdose, none of that stuff. We were having a vocal session, it went badly and got worse. A punch was thrown. Brian was out cold. Everybody had a different reaction, but a staff member at the studio called an ambulance and Brian got admitted to the UCLA Medical Center with a concussion. I'm not telling you who threw the punch and whether Brian was meant to be the target or not. You know how the fans can get. Everybody got forgiven. We're all friends these days OK?”
- Unnamed source
"That wasn't the scary part. By the time I knew about Brian's concussion, he was conscious and the nurses were looking after him. They kept him in for observation and…well…it wasn't the same then as it is now. When the doctor said the words 'psychiatric evaluation' I started to cry. At that time, to me at least, I thought they were going to put him away. But the doctor was very sweet and he'd noticed Brian…well his behavior was a little…unusual. Brian was very suggestible in those days and deeply interested in new ideas about the mind. Oh, the books he used to bring home. Anyway, we got him a psych evaluation and that was the beginning of a new Brian."
- Marylin Wilson
"The difference was immediate, as is common with 'The Talking Cure'. For my part, I was really only involved in two long meetings where Brian worked out which songs would be finished and what shape they'd have. One of the meetings certainly helped me keep perspective on being a part of a burgeoning underground movement. As I arrived at Brian's house, one of his medical coterie was there and on being introduced to me this eminent psychiatrist beamed and said, “It's Dick Parks' boy, isn't it?”. I felt about ten years old, but I think Brian looked on me with renewed respect."
- Van Dyke Parks
THE BEACH BOYS - SMILE (March 27th 1967)
Early reviews for the album in the U.S. were mixed but tended towards the negative. Billboard called it, “dazzlingly arranged but confusingly written”. As with the previous album, the reception from music journalists in the UK was more positive, but less so than with Pet Sounds. New Musical Express hailed Smile as, “brilliantly avant-garde and progressive”, but added, “the lofty ideas can be alienating in places”. Disc and Music Echo declared it, “ten years ahead of its time, which might not be much comfort for those of us living in the present”.
(Wikipedia)
Beach Boys Rethink Direction
Single and album both stall at 16, are they giving up art-pop?
(Disc And Music Echo)
"We knew Brian wasn't going to be happy. Brian might have been a little more together thanks to his new doctors, but it hurt us, we figured it would devastate Brian. But he kind of didn't react at all. He was on to his next idea. Capitol wanted to know what we were going to do next and Brian told them, 'the next album won't be anything like Smile'. EMI in the UK took their own action and then it got more complicated."
- Carl Wilson
View attachment 542267
“OK, the official story isn't true, it wasn't a piece of equipment that fell on Brian. The conspiracies aren't true either. There was no psychotic episode, no drug overdose, none of that stuff. We were having a vocal session, it went badly and got worse. A punch was thrown. Brian was out cold. Everybody had a different reaction, but a staff member at the studio called an ambulance and Brian got admitted to the UCLA Medical Center with a concussion. I'm not telling you who threw the punch and whether Brian was meant to be the target or not. You know how the fans can get. Everybody got forgiven. We're all friends these days OK?”
- Unnamed source
"That wasn't the scary part. By the time I knew about Brian's concussion, he was conscious and the nurses were looking after him. They kept him in for observation and…well…it wasn't the same then as it is now. When the doctor said the words 'psychiatric evaluation' I started to cry. At that time, to me at least, I thought they were going to put him away. But the doctor was very sweet and he'd noticed Brian…well his behavior was a little…unusual. Brian was very suggestible in those days and deeply interested in new ideas about the mind. Oh, the books he used to bring home. Anyway, we got him a psych evaluation and that was the beginning of a new Brian."
- Marylin Wilson
"The difference was immediate, as is common with 'The Talking Cure'. For my part, I was really only involved in two long meetings where Brian worked out which songs would be finished and what shape they'd have. One of the meetings certainly helped me keep perspective on being a part of a burgeoning underground movement. As I arrived at Brian's house, one of his medical coterie was there and on being introduced to me this eminent psychiatrist beamed and said, “It's Dick Parks' boy, isn't it?”. I felt about ten years old, but I think Brian looked on me with renewed respect."
- Van Dyke Parks
THE BEACH BOYS - SMILE (March 27th 1967)
Early reviews for the album in the U.S. were mixed but tended towards the negative. Billboard called it, “dazzlingly arranged but confusingly written”. As with the previous album, the reception from music journalists in the UK was more positive, but less so than with Pet Sounds. New Musical Express hailed Smile as, “brilliantly avant-garde and progressive”, but added, “the lofty ideas can be alienating in places”. Disc and Music Echo declared it, “ten years ahead of its time, which might not be much comfort for those of us living in the present”.
(Wikipedia)
Beach Boys Rethink Direction
Single and album both stall at 16, are they giving up art-pop?
(Disc And Music Echo)
"We knew Brian wasn't going to be happy. Brian might have been a little more together thanks to his new doctors, but it hurt us, we figured it would devastate Brian. But he kind of didn't react at all. He was on to his next idea. Capitol wanted to know what we were going to do next and Brian told them, 'the next album won't be anything like Smile'. EMI in the UK took their own action and then it got more complicated."
- Carl Wilson
View attachment 542267
- Guajolote
- Word Count: 630