56
Understanding Rock entire recordings of just water sounds, all part of an atmosphere of "anything goes." All the various projects that never happened that were part of all that. .. very intensely creative period of time. Every day, something was happening ... the humor concept was separate from Smile, originally. (Leaf, The Beach Boys, 97. The quotation is Leaf's transcription of an oral interview.)
28. The Beatles, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Capitol 2653 (1967). Brian's sense of competition with the Beatles was noted earlier. Paul McCartney has acknowledged the Beach Boys' influence, especially during the making of Sgt. Pepper's. See David Leaf's transcription of a telephone interview with McCartney in the liner notes to the CD rerelease of Pet Sounds. 29. Leaf, The Beach Boys, 99-100. Brian himself has said that "I couldn't pull the songs together." Wilson and Gold, Wouldn't It Be Nice, 161. 30. "Heroes and Villains" was released as a single (Brother 1001 [1967]) slightly in advance of the Smiley Smile album, on which it also appeared. 31. The Beach Boys, Surfin' U.S.A., Capitol 1890 (1963). 32. See Miller, Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock 'n' Roll, 168. 33. The Beach Boys had earlier played with this repetitive compositional form in "You're Welcome," the B side of the "Heroes and Villains" single. The insistent repetition in that song is mitigated by the extraordinary long fade-in, giving an impression of development absent in "Whistle In." 34. An occasional glockenspiel note can also be heard at the beginning of the verses. The basic instrumental idea described here—organ, honky-tonk piano, and electronic bass—is the Beach Boys' standard set-up through much of the post-Pef Sounds music. Note the lack of percussion and, especially, guitars. 35. A listener can spend a lot of time trying to untangle various conversational threads in this background. The clearest utterance, sung/spoken by Brian, is a vaguely chilling remonstrance: "Don't think you're God." 36. It is interesting to note in this regard that the Beach Boys recognized this problem early and attempted to counter it by forming their own recording company in association with Capitol, called "Brother Records." Brother would give them more financial independence from Capitol so that they could indulge their interests with less interference. The collapse of Smile also took down Brother, though it was revived when the Beach Boys signed with Warner Brothers in 1970. By that time recording companies had been forced to grant their artists greater independence. Brother was thus acceptable to Warner Brothers, whereas Capitol had found the idea subversive only a few years earlier. 37. Leaf, liner notes to Smiley Smile/Wild Honey, 10. 38. One exception is "Darlin'," which Brian had originally conceived and written in 1963 for another group, but which he rearranged for Wild Honey (See Leaf, liner notes, 11). Because of its genesis, however, "Darlin'," could not very well be recorded in the new production style, so it was given a more polished production effort. 39. The Beach Boys, Friends, Capitol 2895 (1968). 40. Miller, Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock 'n' Roll, 166. 41. The Beach Boys, 20/20, Capitol 133 (1969). 42. Leaf, The Beach Boys, 100. 43. The Beach Boys, Sunflower, Warner Reprise 6382 (1970). 44. See Irwin Stambler, Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock, and Soul (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1977), 44. 45. The Beach Boys, Surf's Up, Reprise 6453 (1971); Carl and the Passions—So Tough, Reprise 2083 (1972); and Holland, Reprise 2118 (1973).