Ein sehr schönes gemeinsames Interview mit Brian und Mike:
February 17, 2012, 5:54 PM
A Few Words With the Beach Boys
By JON PARELES
The Beach Boys haven’t always been harmonious. During the 50 years since the band got started in Hawthorne, Ca., Brian Wilson, the architect of the Beach Boys sound, and the rest of the band had long gone separate ways.
The touring Beach Boys, without Mr. Wilson, have been led by Mike Love, his cousin. Mr. Wilson, meanwhile, has toured with his own band, revisiting his masterwork, “Pet Sounds,” and reconstructing the hugely ambitious album that divided the Beach Boys, “Smile.” Mr. Love has waged legal battle, successfully and unsuccessfully, against Mr. Wilson and Mr. Jardine over songwriting credits and the Beach Boys brand name.
At the Grammy Awards on Feb. 12, Mr. Wilson and the other surviving Beach Boys founders — Mike Love and Al Jardine — performed together publicly for the first time in more than two decades, singing “Good Vibrations” with other past and present members of the Beach Boys, Bruce Johnston and David Marks. It was the public inauguration of a reunion that will have the group touring extensively this year, including New York City shows at the Beacon Theater on May 8 and 9. The Beach Boys have also been working on a new album, with songs by Mr. Wilson and the producer Joe Thomas, at Ocean Way Recording, a celebrated Hollywood studio. A live tour DVD and a PBS special are also in the works.
On Friday afternoon Mr. Wilson and Mr. Love shared a brief phone interview. Here is an edited transcript.
Q. I’m very curious about the new album. How is that going?
Mike Love: It’s going really well. Brian has worked on some great tracks, great melodies, great harmonies, and he’s been dealing it out to all of us. It’s really sounding good.
Q. Is it close to complete?
Brian Wilson: Well, not really. It’s about halfway done.
Love: There’s a couple of songs that are close and the rest of them are a work in progress, and we plan on going back into the studio in another couple of weeks and keep going until we’ve got it finished.
Q. Does Ocean Way bring back memories?
Wilson: I saw Jan and Dean record there one time.
Q. Are the songs written and just waiting to be arranged and recorded?
Wilson: Most of them have been written. We’re going to have to write a few new ones, but most of them have been written. On the album, one song flows into another and that flows into another like that, until it’s over, until there’s no more album.
Q. So it’s something like “Pet Sounds” and “Smile.”
Love: There’s a little bit of a suite that’s meant to end the album, so it’s going to have a nice little touch that way.
Q. Any Theremin on there?
Wilson: That I can’t answer. Mike, what do you think?
Love: If there’s a reason to put a Theremin on, I’m game. So far I haven’t heard any in the studio.
Q. Brian, how does it feel to have Al’s and Mike’s voices harmonizing with yours again?
Wilson: The guys are all amazing. They’ve never stopped blowing my mind for 50 years.
Love: Al sounds phenomenal on a couple of things. His voice cuts through in a certain range so beautifully. I’ve sung plenty of leads in my day but I really like the low parts, the bass parts and stuff. And it sounds great — the high parts, the low parts, the midrange and stuff. The Beach Boys, I was just thinking about it, we’re kind of our own genre. Our music is pretty unique because of Brian’s incredible talent at structuring harmonies. It’s just really beautiful. Sometimes in the studio we just really stand back and say “Wow, that sounds great.”
Q. Is a full live set rehearsed and ready?
Love: You know, we haven’t done rehearsals yet for the live show, but we have a tremendous amount to choose from, so I don’t think that’s going to be any problem at all. And we have all the voices intact. Bruce Johnston will do a couple of tunes, and Al Jardine is really great on a few leads, and myself and Brian — there’s a lot to choose from.
Q. Brian, back in the 1960’s you often did not tour with the Beach Boys. You stayed home and worked in the studio. Has touring “Smile” and “Pet Sounds” changed how you feel about performing?
Wilson: It gets easier as I go.
Q. What are the new songs about?
Wilson: We try all different avenues, to explore different avenues of music.
Q. Can you give me an example?
Love: There’s one song that comes to mind: “That’s Why God Made the Radio.” It really showcases the harmonies incredibly, and philosophically I think it’s a wonderful thing. It’s a new song that sounds as good as any song we ever did. Whether it will be successful, who knows? You always hope that things will be successful, but you don’t really know until the public has had its chance to hear and listen and perhaps purchase.
Q. Is that going to be part of the live set?
Love: We haven’t really decided. It kind of depends on when it comes out. There are so many songs that people would love to hear that are pre-existing, but I’m sure sure there’ll be a chance to do one or two from our new album.
Q. So you’re friends now? After all the lawsuits?
Wilson: Just a lawsuit.
Love: It’s the distant past.
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