Brian Wilson (5)
In the late 1990s Brian suddenly decided to face a demon he had feared since his earliest days - performing live. He played some concerts in LA and Japan and released a double CD 'Live at the Roxy' featuring some new songs (one of which was featuring in a major new movie - though not sung by Brian)
It seems that Brian suddenly became aware of how warmly he was received and just how great his influence on the lives of everyday people was. No more joking about 'being a f***ing genius' - here were adoring thousands lining up and paying for the privilege of showing Brian that they KNEW he was one of the greatest musicians of the late 20th Century.
Brian had teamed up with an LA based band of superb musicians - www.myspace.com/wondermints - and these formed the basis of Brian's new backing band. The 'Mints' were in dreamland, being massive Brian fans already - and they were able to play virtually everything Brian had ever written. A feature of the early live shows were superb renditions of the two purely instrumental tracks off Pet Sounds. Brian soon decided that to follow his successful solo debut concerts it would be a great idea to try to reproduce the entire Pet Sounds album live. Van Dyke Parks wrote a special orchestral Overture for the show and the fantastic reception given to the whole idea gained rave reviews in the press and a clamour for more concerts and tickets worldwide. Finally, America had realised what a great album Pet Sounds was and it finally went gold in the States nearly 25 years after release. A live CD and DVD of the tour also sold well.
I was privileged to attend one of Brian's first London shows at the Royal Festival Hall and was captivated both with the 'awe' of seeing Brian play and sing live (something I would never have dreamed of happening just a few years before) and also by the amazing warmth of the reception - the actual tangible 'love' you could feel in the air for Brian at the concert. I also got to meet David Leaf and Jeff Foskett. What a great night!
On the way home I was talking to my wife and we were wondering what Brian would do next. Would he carry on taking this same tour round the world? Would he do the same with another album - for instance 'Today' (which I always saw as a pre-cursor of Pet Sounds ). On the various Brian/BB mailing lists I subscribe to we were discussing the same question and someone joked that 'maybe it would be SMiLE next'! Big laugh! NOT A HOPE! Another post suggested that Darian Sahanaja and the other Mints knew Beach Boys bootlegs as well as us fans and rumours began to spread that they were already secretly working on an arrangement of 'Fire' (or Mrs O'Leary's Cow) - one of the legendary parts of the 'Elements' suite from Brian's famously 'ditched' late-60s magnum opus...
Surely not...after all this was the album Brian had refused to even talk about for over 30 years. The album from which he admitted he had destroyed the master tapes. 'The one that sent him mad'...as the sensationalists would have you believe!
Then it began to be mentioned on Brian's own 'blue board' - the message board of his own official website where Brian and Melinda were known to actually participate in discussions from time to time. Brian began to refer to a 'Masterplan' for SMiLE... Cryptic! Surely he didn't plan to finally finish it? Amazing levels of expectation began to grow throughout the Music Industry. We heard that Darian had a laptop with every SMiLE bootleg album, track and studio outtake that could be found.
And, of course, the result is now known. Brian and his new band completely re-recorded the entire album as it was originally intended (only without the other BB voices, of course). After nearly 40 years SMiLE came to life. I was back at the Festival Hall to see the first live performance and it has to be one of the most memorable musical experiences of my life! (Click here to see some of my pictures from the Pet Sounds and SMiLE concerts at the Featival Hall). The CD was great, the live DVD amazing - David Leaf's lovingly assembled documentary 'Beautiful Dreamer' a joy to behold.
There have been two more solo albums since - 'Getting In Over My Head' (mainly re-recordings of Sweet Insanity/Paley Sessions tracks) and 'What I Really want For Christmas' - a new seasonal album building on the 'freebie' tracks Brian had been recording each year for his website. And I'm sure there will be more to come!
With
the SMiLE
ghost laid to rest Brian just seemed to get happier and happier. He had
always smiled with his mouth but there had always been something missing 'from
the eyes' (you know what they say about the window to the soul and all
that...smiling with the whole face...) Imagine my utter joy when I found a
picture taken after one of the American shows in October 2004 showing Brian
happier than I have ever seen him look before. Apologies to the
owner/photographer if I shouldn't have used it here but I can't help but include
it h - it is the end of my
story. As Brian continues to perform and record I await more opportunities
to see and hear him play and, God-willing even meet him one day. Until
then, THANK YOU, Brian for all the joy and inspiration!