Mellotronists

> I believe the issue was far more complicated than that, involving Brian's
> severe breakdown and loss of nerve, plus the 'touring band's objections
> (principally that arsehole Mike Love).

The rest of the band were hardly blameless either, despite their later
protestations. There was also the matter of Capitol Records withholding
hundreds of thousands of dollars in 'creative accounting' of their
royalties.

> Given that these shows will have been bootlegged, Brian's bound to
> release a live version, and I heard rumours that he was *finally*
> preparing the original tapes for release.

I downloaded the opening show of the tour last night. The sound quality
is kind of back-of-the-hall but it's okay.

> Dunno how he expects to get back to where his head was in 1967 -
> suppose he just has to make the best of a bad job.

Interesting story - as the 'musical secretary', the Wondermints' Daria
Sahanaja was with Brian Wilson trying to pick through the music to 'Do
You Like Worms' when he asked whether or not there were more lyrics to
it. Brian picks out a sheet written by Van Dyke Parks in 1966 and reads
through it, but can't make out one of the words. So Brian phones Parks
up and asks him. He asks for a fax. He phones back and says that the
word is 'Indians'. Next day Sahanaja turns up and hears Brian Wilson say
that Van Dyke was also coming round that morning. Within an hour they
are working on 'Smile' again with the intention of finishing it.

Supposedly they weren't trying to get into their 1967 minds as much as
they were trying to finish it off in 2004. Listening to the show it
sounds like they wouldn't need to use any of the old tapes anyway.

Mike Dickson (tron@...) M400 #996
The Official Cynic of Streetly Electronics
Streetly Sample Library http://www.blackcat.demon.co.uk/tron/