Flex's Takes: The Beach Boys

[Dr. Medulla]

Mid-70s, Brian is a whale but trying to get healthy:

I'm writing a song about how people should forget about hot dogs and hamburgers and eat good food.

He is such flat-out strange dude.

[Flex]

Mid-70s, Brian is a whale but trying to get healthy:

I'm writing a song about how people should forget about hot dogs and hamburgers and eat good food.

He is such flat-out strange dude.

I'm sure WWK has the exact deets, but wasn't Smile at some point going to be a healthy eating message album? I believe the only song that stuck from idea was Vegetables.

[Dr. Medulla]

Mid-70s, Brian is a whale but trying to get healthy:

I'm writing a song about how people should forget about hot dogs and hamburgers and eat good food.

He is such flat-out strange dude.

I'm sure WWK has the exact deets, but wasn't Smile at some point going to be a healthy eating message album? I believe the only song that stuck from idea was Vegetables.

Brian Wilson presents his latest concept album, an opera entitled, Legumes: The Rainbow Awaits.

[Dr. Medulla]

Watched the American Band documentary this morning (probably haven't seen it in over a decade). So, so low rent. The bits where the band members speak to the camera as narrators has all the comfort of a local used car lot ad. That terrible skit of Aykroyd and Belushi as cops getting BW out of bed and on a surfboard. And just cheesy glitz of the 70s stadium performance. Like with the Who, I prefer to imagine the band fell into a volcano around 1968.

[WestwayKid]

Mid-70s, Brian is a whale but trying to get healthy:

I'm writing a song about how people should forget about hot dogs and hamburgers and eat good food.

He is such flat-out strange dude.

Listen to this one!! Written by Brian for the shelved Adult/Child LP that should have followed Love You. String arrangements done by Dick Reynolds who worked with guys like Sinatra and the Four Freshman. It's such a weird, weird song.

[WestwayKid]

I found this gem this morning. Words can't even describe it.

[WestwayKid]

Mid-70s, Brian is a whale but trying to get healthy:

I'm writing a song about how people should forget about hot dogs and hamburgers and eat good food.

He is such flat-out strange dude.

I'm sure WWK has the exact deets, but wasn't Smile at some point going to be a healthy eating message album? I believe the only song that stuck from idea was Vegetables.

For awhile it was going to be a humor album.

[Dr. Medulla]

Mid-70s, Brian is a whale but trying to get healthy:

I'm writing a song about how people should forget about hot dogs and hamburgers and eat good food.

He is such flat-out strange dude.

Listen to this one!! Written by Brian for the shelved Adult/Child LP that should have followed Love You. String arrangements done by Dick Reynolds who worked with guys like Sinatra and the Four Freshman. It's such a weird, weird song.

So it's basically a rewrite of "Help Me, Rhonda."

[WestwayKid]

Then there is this oddity:

Stark naked in front of my mirror
A pudgy person somehow did appear
Seems lately all I've eaten sugar and fat
It's getting obvious that's not where it's at
A big pot and tripley chin
Oh what condition my condition was in
Laughing at myself at what a crying shame
What ever happened to my Greek godly frame

Cyclamates juicy steaks, sweet things too
Aren't always good as they seem
Doughy lumps, stomach pumps, enemas too
That's what you get when you eat that way

I read a book on organic foods
Jumped on a health food kick
Put me in the mood
You may not get to perfect overnight
But on the way you're feelin' clean out of sight
We ate tonight at Fairfax and 3rd
We're gonna spread the news and give you the word
We hope that soon you'll eat like we did today
We're mighty thankful now that H.E.L.P.'s on its way
Salad with a special knock you right off your seat
With carrot juice to wash it all down
Yummy carob cookies are an organic treat
And H.E.L.P. has got the best food in town

H.-E.-L.-P.
H.E.L.P. your education creates much benefit and peace

Hamburgers and hot dogs throw 'em all out
You'll feel so good you'll jump up and shout
If you haven't why don't you go shopping today
And 'member now that H.E.L.P. 's on its way

H.-E.-L.-P.
Radiant Radish

[Dr. Medulla]

God, what a weird guy.

[Dr. Medulla]

[Dr. Medulla]

Finally finished Timothy White's book. Maybe it's best appreciated by BB fans who are fully immersed in the story and myths. But to me it was a rambling and often confusing narrative that seemed as if written on drugs. That is, it bounces around to different tangents, little blasts of intensity that often have no bearing on the narrative before apparently losing interest and moving onto something else. The first 40–50 pages or so relates prior generations of Wilsons making their way to California but, honestly, I can't see where it meaningfully belongs in the narrative. There are little histories of surfing and hot rods and skateboarding, but it's incumbent upon the reader to make the connection to the band. For example, in the early 80s we get a few paragraphs on how hardcore punks adopted skateboarding, there's surf punks, and then suddenly Buddy Wilson, living in Huntington Beach amongst these punks, dies (who? Oh yeah, the grandfather whom we haven't heard from in 300 pages; I had to go to the index to be reminded who the fuck that was). All within 3 pages. People get divorced and I'm wondering whether it's been mentioned that got married. In the end, I have no idea how I'm supposed to feel about the band. Maybe there's a good book here, but it needed a hands-on editor to discipline the writer.

[matedog]

Finally finished Timothy White's book. Maybe it's best appreciated by BB fans who are fully immersed in the story and myths. But to me it was a rambling and often confusing narrative that seemed as if written on drugs. That is, it bounces around to different tangents, little blasts of intensity that often have no bearing on the narrative before apparently losing interest and moving onto something else. The first 40–50 pages or so relates prior generations of Wilsons making their way to California but, honestly, I can't see where it meaningfully belongs in the narrative. There are little histories of surfing and hot rods and skateboarding, but it's incumbent upon the reader to make the connection to the band. For example, in the early 80s we get a few paragraphs on how hardcore punks adopted skateboarding, there's surf punks, and then suddenly Buddy Wilson, living in Huntington Beach amongst these punks, dies (who? Oh yeah, the grandfather whom we haven't heard from in 300 pages; I had to go to the index to be reminded who the fuck that was). All within 3 pages. People get divorced and I'm wondering whether it's been mentioned that got married. In the end, I have no idea how I'm supposed to feel about the band. Maybe there's a good book here, but it needed a hands-on editor to discipline the writer.

I'll defer to Flex and WWK, are there any great BB bios? The Carl Wilson one I just finished was not as rambling as this, but also not as engaging. Also is the Landy/Wilson bio from 1990 worth it for the sheer zaniness of it?

[Dr. Medulla]

Also is the Landy/Wilson bio from 1990 worth it for the sheer zaniness of it?

I kinda want to read that in a look-at-the-escaped-zoo-animals-run-wild kind of way.

[Flex]

Listening to Carl's Youngblood for the first time in a hot minute. Some pretty tasty tracks. I like this one particularly: