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Home , American Spring, Blondie Chaplin, Brother Records, Cabinessence, California Girls, Capitol Studios

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BROTHERLY LOVE IN T H E '70s

he 24th of February 1971, Carnegie Hall, and are about to play the longest gig of their career to a fuU house. A lot is riding on this set - a deep dive into their catalogue spanning their 10-year history. It's a new dawn for "America's Band". After four years of chaos dogged by declining record sales, lawsuits, mental breakdowns and worst of ail - irrelevance, this is their moment. Kicking off their two hour set with a Tdriving, kinetic '' the hairy, funky-looking group are pretty much unrecognisable as the "Surfîng Doris Days" left behind by the counterculture back in '67. Leader is absent, barely seen in public since he abandoned his opus SMiLE and abdicated his post as genius-in- residence. His brothers Cari and Dennis are here to avenge him, leading the charge of their formidable live assault. Even the lanky, balding figure of Mr ' Girls' himself has the bearing of a hip guru in his robes and beads. The gig is a triumph. With a new, hipper label behind them and a united front surely it was time for "America's Band" to shine, with or without their leader. This is the story of how, out of adversity The Beach Boys made their last great .

" I dont see why I should lie and say the time the grab-bag 20/20 came out in wife Suzanne. Dennis at least succeeded in everything is rosy when it's not." February '69, it was clear that Brian was suppressing the tapes of the recordings Twenty-Seventh May 1969, and Brian barely involved, beyond chastising Cari made with Manson and his entourage he'd Wilson is talking to NME. He's meant to and Dennis for overdubbing SMiLE tracks produced at Brian's studio. "We've got be plugging forthcoming single 'Break '' and '' in a several 8-track tapes of Charlie and the Away' and the European tour that the desperate attempt to pad out the brief girls that Dennis eut... just chanting, touring line-up of The Beach Boys - his . fucking, sucking, barking," sneered Love brothers Dennis and Cari, cousin Mike Two weeks after 'Break Away' came t o RoUing Stone in '71. "Maybe we'U put it and friends Al Ja r d i n e and out, Brian's ominous prédiction came out in the fall. Call it Death Row." are about to undertake. However, Brian's true. The Beach Boys' contract with There was a light at the end of the here as prophet of doom. "We owe Capitol expired on 30th June after two tunnel amidst ail this chaos and everyone money, and if we don't pick fractions years of lawsuits and disputes. dysfunction. Since January '69, The Beach ourselves off our backsides and have a hit Never the cosiest of band-label Boys had been plugging away at a vast record soon we will be in worse trouble." relationships, things had been frosty ever portfolio of new material that they hoped Brian 's gloomy pronouncements dogged since the costly and much-hyped SMiLE would jump-start their flagging career. across Europe, forcing an failed to matérialise. W i t h the contract up There was so much that the band were exasperated Bruce Johnston to make a and an album in arrears, Capitol still recycling well into the late '70s. terse statement on behalf of the others. buUdozed the band's income by deleting Some songs were pegged for a contractual "W e're not broke at ail," he protested. their en t i r e catalogue in the US. A few obligation album for Capitol, with "It's very upsetting to have spent the months later a further blow was dealt working titles Réverbération and The Fading whole tour denying this." According to when the Wilson brothers' father Murry, Rock Band Revival. Others were for the Beach Boys biographer Steven Gaines co- the co-author of 'Break Away' sold the bulletproof début album they planned to managers Nick Grillo and Fred Vail kept band's publishing company Sea Of Tunes shop around prospective new labels. The the band afloat that summer through to Irving Almo music for $700,000. most promising contender was Warner- maxing out their crédit cards. Brian , already mired in dépression and a Reprise, after a helping hand from A&R newfound cocaine habit, became even man and Brian's SMiLE lyricist Van Dyke For some time, The Beach Boys and more withdrawn. H i s brothers weren't in Parks. "The Beach Boys were at a very Brian Wilson had largely occupied two great shape either. Cari, a conscientious low point of their career," Parks told separate, unhappy worlds. Since Brian's objector had spent two years fighting a Scott Keller in '73. "I personally begged early '67 cancellation of the SMiLE draft board determined to post him to M o Ostin to sign them." sessions things had gone from bad to Vietnam. Meanwhile, the volatile Dennis worse. Brian had a breakdown, his long- The Beach Boys signed with Warners in found out that his charismatic former standing mental health issues chipped December, taking their dormant Brother buddy "The Wizard", AKA Charles away at by drugs and the pressure the 24- Records imprint with them. Brian's Manson, wasn't just a freeloader with an year old had placed on himself. Brian shut absence on 20/20 had been noted by entourage of nubile young women, but u p shop, only surfacing for lo-fi sessions Warners - who made his active the psychotic ringleader of 's i n the home studio the band moved into involvement a condition of the deal. This most notorious murder. The press his Bel Air mansion. SMiLE would prove was easier said than done. Brian was more condemned his association with Manson, t o be an albatross for The Beach Boys. interested in ventures like an odd spoken whose shadow would follow Dennis for The albums that foUowed, the stoned Word album he was recording with the rest of his life. Hohng up in a hôtel to doo-wop of , chilled garage of Dennis's songwriting partner Stephen escape the press, he initiated a vicions feud Wild Honey and mellow Friends at least Kalinich, and his new health food store with Love by having an afFair with his seemed to help the frazzled Brian's mood. The . There were rare However, a further breakdown in Ju n e '68 moments of fevered action, like the left his bandmates scrambling to fill the astonishing '', a mini- void. Dennis had already begun to flower suite impossibly squeezed into under two as a writer, and Love and Jardine teamed minutes eut in November '69. Largely, u p to Write the bizarre, discordant Brian preferred to noodle while the 'Transcendental Méditation' - inspired others were out, if at ail. Often, the b y Love's récent initiation in to TM. By others would flesh out his songs when autumn, at Love's insistence the band h e lost interest. "We became had haemorrhaged cash on an abortive completers of ideas," Jardine told Rock joint tour with TM guru the Maharishi Cellar in 2015. Mahesh Yogi. Cari, the band's de facto The new album, a punchy, front-man began to supervise most of contemporary-sounding collection initiaUy their studio sessions in Brian's stead. By entitled Add Some Music then Sunjlower was In Europe sans Brian in 1970; Dennis and Warren Dates in Two Lane Blacktop-, Al on stage in 7 2 ; pt' ij Sunflower and its attendant singles i

"W a m e r s rejected SmnBomer, saying they didnt hear ai

092? hit single, but released *Add Somc Music To Your Day* as a taster anvway. The dejected band went back .^.^ =====r======:r^=r;;= the drawiné board";

ready to go by February. - a December '68 concert tape from Rieley produced a six-page document Tbere was melodrama the Finsbury Park Astoria instead. outlining his vision for modernising the (Johnston's ''), Sunflower was finally completed in early band. Matching outfits and short sets were driving bot rod rock (Jardine's 'Suzie summer with Dennis and Jardine's soul- out, and Cari was to be appointed officiai Cincinnati'), amiable goofing from Brian rock stomper 'It's About Time', and the musical director - with Brian given leave ('Games Two Can Play' and the dafFy revival of a curio from the SMiLE era. The to come up with whatever he liked. 'Good Time') and a featherlight hymn to unfmished 'Cool, Cool Water' was a '67 Rieley quickly won round the Wilsons the power of music in 'Add Some Music out-take derived from SMiLE track 'I Love but the others were more cautious. T h e To Your Day'. Tbere were some dazzhng To Say Da-Da'. Warners exec Lenny Beach Boys fancied Brother as a songs from Dennis — like the soulful ballads Waronker lobbied for its completion and Californian version of Apple, and wanted 'Forever' and 'Fallin' In Love' and the inclusion on Sunflower. After adding new to sign more artists, but Rieley called time stunning '. A criss- sections, a phnky Moog and a leftover on that after a Carl-produced album by crossing maze of choppy rbythms, cowbells vocal chant, the and album were South African group The Flame (see and trippy stereo harmonies bolted to a finally ready. The band toured without sidebar). soulful R&B chorus, it was a perfect calling Dennis, absent filming his co-lead rôle Attention turned to the next album, card for the new Beach Boys. alongside James Taylor in Monte Hellman's entitled Landlocked, which Rieley was Warners rejected Sunflower, saying they bip road movie Two Lane Blacktop. dismayed to find was a mixed bag of didn't hear a hit single, but released 'Add Sunflower came out on 31st August. I t leftovers from Sunflower. A curious "self- Some Music' as a taster anyway. The did slow business, but reviews were help" direction had emerged on some of dejected band went back to the drawing glowing — called it "an album the new material with Jardine offering board. Sessions were paused as the band that can stand with ". As part of podiatry tips in 'Take Good Care Of Your hit the road. Brian deputised for Love for the promotional push behind Sunflower Feet', and Love advocating a healthy diet a few shows after the singer's freak-out Brian, Mike and Bruce had recently done in 'H.E.L.P Is O n The Way'. Mo Ostin and hospitalisation in the wake of a a j o i n t radio interview for KPFK Pacifica rejected the album with a firm "No way" lengthy TM-influenced fast. with one , who'd met Brian but tbere was a mournful folky tune by The next few months would see recently at The Radiant Radish. Rieley, a Jardine - 'Lookin' At Tomorrow' that Sunflower rejected once again as early '69 journalist by trade charmed Brian so much Rieley thought he could build on. tracks from the proposed last Capitol during the lengthy interview that within Annoyed at having sumptuous ballad album such as Brian and Love's stunning, days he was asked to manage The Beach 'Fallin' In Love' rejected again, Dennis spacey 'AU I Wanna Do' were flown back Boys - to the dismay of long-suffering reclaimed it for himself as he began work in. The studio album for Capitol was then managers Grillo and Vail. Both would be on his first solo album at Capitol studios ditched, and the label was given Live In ousted before long. in late autumn. The sessions stuttered, but maintain harmony within the fractious swelled to a 14-piece onstage. Ricky him," shrugged Love to NME's Keith group. Within weeks Dennis was abruptly Fataar and fellow Flame guitarist/vocalist Altham. out of the band after drunkenly putting a Blon die Chaplin had both been a Cari And The Passions was released in the hand through a window, severing nerves particular asset. Cari now made them fuU U S with an unusual free gift — a second and tendons. He was replaced on hve members. "The band was rocking much dise containing Pet Sounds. This gimmick drumming duties by The Flame's Ricky barder than it had in the beginning. We didn't manage to shift many copies of an Fataar. Barring occasional cameos at hve gave them a httle more oomph," Chaplin interesting but rushed album. "I t was a shows, Dennis stayed away, working on his told Rolling Stone in 2013. door-stopper," said Rieley. solo album assisted by Daryl 'The Captain' With the Warners deal up for review, A t the peak of their powers as a live act, Dragon, a nickname earned due to Rieley negotiated a deal on the band's the band blazed a trail across Europe with Dragon's ever-present nautical headwear. back catalogue going back to '66, after epic career-spanning shows that spring. B y September Disc & Music Echo was setthng out of court with Capitol. As a There were regular pit stops at their new reporting that Dennis was out for good. sweetener. Cari made the surprise H Q in The Netherlands — another Rieley Surfs Up came out in August '71, to announcement that SMiLE would finally idea hatched after a visit in early '72. " I mostly positive reviews. The album was be completed and released that year. The was blissfuUy naïve about costs," he still a disjointed grab bag, but Rieley had youngest Wilson had been cataloguing the admitted. created an artful illusion of a unified session tapes for some months. I n May '72 the entire Beach Boys effort - even if Th e Beach Boys were Warners were so keen that they agreed entourage — band, wives, girlfriends, pets anything but. Dennis returned, quit and to Rieley's terms and waved through the and staff relocated to Holland. Engineer returned again. Brian was busy producing next album with the caveat of SMiLE's Steph en Moffitt built a studio in LA and his latest project - wife Marilyn and her delivery by May '73. Marking the band's shipped it to a barn in rural Baambriigge. sister Diane's new duo Spring. Johnston lOth anniversary, Cari And The Passions — The airport tarmac cracked under the bitched to the press that the band was So Tough (named for Brian and Carl's high weight of the gear, which broke down becoming cliquey. school band) had been started in late '71 constantly once installed. "It was rough With a new single required for '72 and the band split into three to complète being in Holland," said Jardine. "We were Brian was sat down by Rieley for another it. Cari, Fataar and Chaplin w or ked on working 24/7 in a small home-made co-write, but the lead Beach Boy was busy Brian 's grungy 'You Need A Mess Of studio in a garage next to a cow pasture." obsessing over a Hollywood masseuse Help To Stand Alone' and two soulful Technical woes aside, the band gelled called Marcella. "The only thing I could tunes by the new recruits. Meanwhile well in Holland - reinventing their sound think of to quell Brian's fixation was to Love and Jardine contributed the odd, with a dash of rustic funk. Fataar and channel it," recalled Rieley. Th e Sunjlower gospel-y 'He Corne Down' and the serene Chaplin brought in a couple of great out-take 'I Just Got My Pay' was T M anthem 'Ail This Is That'. Dennis soulful ballads, while Love and Jardine overhauled into a deep-pile, spacey wall reluctantly brought two epic ballads from brought in the atmospheric suite o f Sound entitled 'Marcella' and the solo sessions with Dragon. Shortly 'California Saga'. Cari and Rieley wrote earmarked for release in the new year. before release Bruce Joh n st on left. The the stunning 'The Trader', and Dennis bassist was rowing with the others and I n early '72 bandleader Cari decided to mended fences with Love briefly to co- shunned the sessions. "He may have taken shake up the band's membership. The write the tender 'Only With You'. The it as a dismissal but that's just too bad Beach Boys had been augmented by only problem, as ever, was Brian. because we had tangible gripes about sidemen live since '68 and had now I t took four attempts to get Brian Cari in his beloved ' Nudie suit, 1973; J Riky Fataar and Blondie Cliaplin join in 7 2 ; Central Parkshow,71; Holland and singles; Rolling Stone cover, October 71

feeding his escalating coke habit. In November, The Beach Boys In Concert was released. A stunning double documenting the '72-73 tours, it surprised Wilson to Holland. On arrivai he Village Recorders. The lead vocal eluded everyone by vastly outselling both Holland delegated producing duties to Cari, Cari, so Dennis tried a single take before and Passions and going gold - to the keen occasionally lying in the booth but mostly splitting for the beach. Chaplin eventually interest of Mike Love. A new régime staying home, getting stoned and stepped up to provide the mesmeric lead. loomed ominously into view by late '73. obsessively spinning Randy Newman s The album was complète, but 'Sail On Rieley, who'd remained in Holland was Sail Away. Brian immersed himself in a Sailor"s inclusion nudged both Fataar and sacked as manager, replaced by the hard- musical "fairy taie" he wrote using toy Chaplin's 'We Got Love' and Dennis's headed Steve Love. The younger Love rubber stamps belonging to daughters devastating Vietnam lament 'Carry Me made his présence felt by fighting backstage Garnie and Wendy and took to his Moog. Home' offthe final tracklist. Released on at Madison Square Garden with a disgusted 'Mount Vernon A n d Fairway (A Fairy 45 injanuary '73, 'Sail On Sailor' was a Chaphn, who immediately quit. Taie)' was presented as a (nearly) complète radio hit, but didn't chart. Holland As '74 dawned the sun set on The work to the others. "Nobody was ready followed on 30th January and did Beach Boys as a créative concern. In for that," said Brian later. "Nohody." middling business. trying to escape their past, it had Rieley was enlisted to narrate the pièce, In March, the band commenced the first ironically caught up with them in a big ad-libbing the ending. Everyone agreed leg of a mammoth US touring schedule way. The harmony and creativity o f the that 'Mount Vernon' didn't fit, but Rieley that spanned most of the year. The shows Holland band was gone, there would be no came up with an élégant solution "It were triumphs with Dennis attracting more albums until '76. After the seemed to me that song wasn't part of the cheers for joining Love out front as co- commercial failure of their Warners era Holland album, yet it was. So putting that frontman. Love and his younger brother and the costly gamble on SMiLE, Dennis song on a seven-inch E P was a no- Stephen, the band's newly-appointed was sidelined and Carl's stewardship of brainer." assistant manager, couldn't help but notice the band curtailed. Mike Love seized Returning to LA that autumn, The how well the encores where the band control, with a new focus on The Road Beach Boys proudly presented Holland to brought out the surfing era hits went and The Hits. That lucrative but Warners, who, in time-honoured fashion, down. creatively empty mission remains in place rejected it. However, Van D y k e Parks had In May, The Beach Boys were fined décades on, as the ghost ship of The Beach an ace up his sleeve, a demo of an $50,000 by "Warners for not delivering Boys sails remorselessly on undaunted by unfinished tune co-written with Brian SMiLE. A month later the Wilson death and dysfunction, with Love and earlier that year, which Warners lapped brothers' world was rocked by the death Johnston at the tiller. "Columnated up. "You could say I did The Beach Boys of father Murry — who left a huge void in Ruins, Domino." j.ïjJ a nice turn there." their lives despite his buUying ways. Only 'Sail On Sailor' was a soulful FM update Cari attended the funeral. Dennis began to With thanks to Craig Williams of the band's classic sound. One lyric drink heavily, while Brian went into polish from Rieley later, the nucleus of shutdown. He'd spend much of the next 1969: l'm Coing Your Way is Cari, Fataar and Chaplin rushed into few years in bed self-medicating and available stream now The further adventures of T H E BEACH BOYS and frîends, 1970-73

A major distraction for Brian Wilson in 1971-72 for more reasons than one, evolved from "" trio , forwhom Brian produced and wrote a raft of sides throughout the '60s. By the eariy '70s The Honeys were dormant after the departure of third member Oinger Blake. Sisters Diane Rovell and Marilyn Wilson were kept busy by The Beach Boys. ; iVlarilyn was largely occupied ; looking after both her young daughters, and husband Brian. Diane acted as Brian's assistant. Both frequently sang back-up in studio. In '71 the sisters' career was revived when they signed to United Artists, renamed Spring. Their eponymous album, produced by Brian, David Sandier and Steve Desper, was released on UA in '72 Durban teenagers The Fiâmes and is a homespun, eccentric gem. Featuring a clutch might have seemed uniikely of Beach Boys covers and rarities (the new '6ood bedfellows for a band quite as Time' was actually a refugee from the Sunflower Frustrated at having his songs left white as The Beach Boys, but the sessions, 'Thinkin' About You Baby', an ancestor of off Surfs Up, rogue Beach Boy band's association with 'Darlin", was originally cut by The Honeys) amongst Dennis became the first to strike out solo. Hawthorne's finest began when songs from the likes of Goffin & King - it's one of the Sessions with Rumbo (AKA touring keyboard player they befriended Cari Wilson and at a best Beach Boys-related records of the era. The album , with occasional assistance from Cari) chance meeting at London drinking den The aIso features the endearingly weird 'Sweet Mountain', kicked off in autumn 1970. The only officiai single by Speakeasy in late 1968. a Brian tune chanted by the sisters over slabs of the duo was '' / 'Lady', released in the "They were doing a tour in England and they were chunky Moog. UK on Stateside in November. The B-side, aiso known looking for acts to sign to ," recalled The album was scuppered by various mishaps - the as 'Fallin' In Love' was actually a Beach Boys out-take singer-guitarist in 2013. HItting it off duo was renamed American Spring after a Leicester- overhauled and orchestrated by Wilson and Dragon. with Cari, who dug the band's gutsy, churchy R&B based prog outfit aIso called Spring threatened légal The pair continued to work throughout '71 on a Sound, The Fiâmes moved to the states in '70. action. A high-profile UK interview with Bob Harris on stash of songs. "He had no confidence in his own Signing to Brother Records, the band lost their "s" to The Old Grey Whistle Test m 72 sawthe bemused talent and I helped him with that," said Dragon in a '99 avoid confusion with 's Famous sisters barraged with questions about SMiLEand interview. The Dennis/Rumbo tracks were Fiâmes. Surfs Up by Harris. There was aIso Brian's lengthy on- occasionally requisitioned by the parent band for their Their self-titled album, produced by Cari, became off affair with Diane. There was one last single - own use. The superb 'Wouidn't It Be Nice To Live the only non-Beach Boys release on Brother (but was 'Shyin' Away' / 'Fallin' In Love' - but American Spring Again' became a full Beach Boys effort, but was distributed, oddiy via Capitol rather than Warners). lost momentum after Brian's '73 breakdown and the criminally left on the shelf until 2012. 'Cuddie Up' and The Flame, released in autumn '70 is a little gem, ifs sisters once more became heavily embroiled in the 'Make It 6ood' were lifted direct (and with no other light, soulfui grooves given a dash of California drama that surrounded The Beach Boys. Beach Boy involvement) for Cari And The Passions: sunshine and a surprising powerpop flavour by Cari Essential Cut: 'Sweet Mountain' So Tough. The partnership broke up in '72 after and BB engineer Steve Desper. The Flame toured Available on: Spr/nfif (Rhino CD) Dragon, who'd been with the band for five years, extensively as support act to their benefactors, and declined an offer to become a full time Beach Boy. The Beach Boys hosted a showcase for them. opting to form a duo with girifriend Toni Tennille, aIso However, the band split in early "72 after Chaplin and playing with the band at the time. "They didn't drummer Ricky Fataarwere conscripted into The understand that because I was making a lot more with Beach Boys as full-time members. Chaplin quickly The Beach Boys," said Dragon. "But I believed in Toni found himself an equal lead singer both live and in and I didn't believe in them. I believed in Dennis..." studio but moved on in December '73, with Fataar Dragon's instinct paid off. The Captain & Tennille were following suit in late '74. soon a huge success, but the keyboardist remained " and I didn't feel like we were fully bittersweet about leaving Dennis behind. "They didn't there," says Chaplin. "We thought we were kind of understand him. I feit they didn't realise what he had." brought in to give the band a barder and funkier edge. Essential Cut: 'Sound Of Free' If that means being a Beach Boy, fine." Available on: The Beach Boys: Essential Cut: 'SeeThe Light' (Capitol box set) Available on: 77)e/7ame(FalloutCD)