Posted on 09/03/2015 8:35:14 PM PDT by z taxman
The Beach Boys frontman opens up about his new solo album No Pier Pressure and alleged rivalry with The Beatles. Rubber Soul inspired Pet Sounds, which inspired Sgt. Peppers and that inspired me to make Smile, Brian Wilson tells me, recalling his 1960s game of one-upmanship with the Beach Boys so-called rivals The Beatles.
It wasnt really a rivalry, though. I was jealous! Wilson says with a hearty laugh. It was really just mutual inspiration, I think. I would get to hear their records before they came out and I was totally blown away by Rubber Soul. And Sgt. Peppers? I was totally blown away by that. But it was inspirational, too. Then I did Good Vibrations and Smile and it was exciting. I got into it and really produced my head off.
Wilson, 72, is still going strong, and his eleventh solo studio album, No Pier Pressure, featuring former Beach Boys bandmates Al Jardine, David Marks, and Blondie Chaplin, as well as a host of younger artists, including Kacey Musgraves, Fun.s Nate Ruess, She & Hims Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, Peter Hollens, and Capital Cities Sebu Simonian, will be released Tuesday. While he originally intended it to be a follow up to the Beach Boys 50th anniversary release Thats Why God Made Radio from 2012, he changed course.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
I’ve seen the Beach Boys, 25 years ago and just a couple of years ago. Good to see Brian doing well.
I get that....but I have the exact opposite opinion. I have always believed that with the exception of McCartney, the Beatles are way over hyped.
Besides that and more to the point, the idea that Brian’s music influenced Sgt pepper does not come from Brian or fans. It comes from the Beatles directly and their manager.
The Wrecking Crew (led by the GREAT Hal Blaine) played on just about all the Beach Boy tracks...and so many other artists. Glen and Carol were long time members of that historic group among many other talented musicians.
Way back when, I saw the Beach Boys in concert that featured Glen Campbell on lead guitar. Glen traveled with them when Brian Wilson stopped touring.
A related side note...on Glen Campbell’s masterpiece “Wichita Lineman” (written by Jimmy Webb), Glen played the solo using Carol Kaye’s 6-string bass guitar he borrowed from her.
Long time Beatles fan here.
Their trilogy “Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Pepper” is arguably the greatest trilogy of albums ever created.
What’s more, they were released within a very short time period which it even more extraordinary considering todays “artists” can take 3 years or more to do just 1 album of much lesser quality.
1965-December “Rubber Soul”
1966-August “Revolver”
1967-June “Sgt Pepper”
If the Beatles are over hyped then Brian Wilson doesn’t even exist. :-)
It is extraordinary — almost unbelievable — that those three albums were released in just 18 months.
so cool!
Hey...I like the Beatles.....probably all of it with the exception of the Ravi Shankar stuff and that was not really the Beatles., but I have the same reverence for the BeachBoys and more so because I grew up with them and enjoyed the sound of the surf. I also like the entire genre of the time. Safari’s, Peter Gunn (favorite TV show) Wipeout was the first tune I ever played on a guitar.
For me, the Beatles were a distraction (I wanna hold your hand), as was Chubby checker with the Twist.
But Petula Clark, Beach Boys, Otis Redding...all had a great influence on me.
Speaking of influences, which started this conversation. There was a second major influence on Sgt Pepper and again the evidence came directly from the Beatles.
“Freak Out! by the Mothers of Invention has also been cited as having influenced Sgt. Pepper.[32] According to the author Philip Norman, during the Sgt. Pepper recording sessions McCartney repeatedly stated: “This is our Freak Out!”[33] The music journalist Chet Flippo states that McCartney was inspired to record a concept album after hearing Freak Out![32”
Ah - surf music. I remember those days. Hey — you know about Freak Out? Cool Zappa’s vocals were almost unlistenable but his instrumental writing was phenomenal. I like all highly creative music whether it be Brian Wilson, Beatles, Zappa and multitudes of others.
That was released in 1971...
Who is in the lineup? I don’t think Brian Wilson is touring with them anymore. He did briefly a few years ago.
Still should be a great concert.
Last I heard during their reunion tour Mike Love fired or left behind {some dispute as to what occurred} Wilson, Jardine and Marks. Love and Johnston continued to tour under The Beach Boys name. Take this source for what it’s worth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beach_Boys#Resumed_band_split
I love the Internet.
Was that an AC 289 before you worked your magic, or was it a 427?
We did it a year before ford came out with the 429 a friend of ours, Doan Spenser, was thick with Ford and he got a pair of blank 429 castings and machined them.
He also changed the spark plug angle 4 degrees which gave us 80 more HP.
He never got beat at the drags by a car in his class.
When he got on drugs he traded it in to Hollywood Sports Car for a motor cycle before he went and killed himself with an overdose.
I have no idea what happened to it from there except I do know that Shelby rented it for $1,000/day for 2 weeks to try and find out how we were blowing him off so bad.
That's a trade secret if ever I heard one.
You and Doane Spenser beat Carroll Shelby at his own game?
I'm very, very impressed.
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