Brian’s Use Of Drums, Percussion, Cymbals

Well Spector similarly eschewed cymbals, preferring to deploy other percussion instruments in the sonic space where cymbals might have been. There is a stark difference, for example, between how Spector used Hal Blaine and how Jan Berry used him.

Brian's more Spectorized productions tended to use Dennis and/or Hal and/or other percussionists in similar ways. Brian himself played drums in a very similar style, smashing hard on a snare and not doing much else.

Here's an oldish thread that addresses the subject of cymbals in Brian's arrangements:

endlessharmony.boards.net/thread/1480/cymbals-music-brian-wilson

That’s a good point. One place where the crash is heard is on Pet Sounds (song). After the quarter note triplets drum fill there is the very uncharacteristic crash cymbal.

It seems to me it was the other way round: Brian as the producer told Dennis what to play, and Dennis wasn't comfortable with this reduced drum style Brian preferred. When he could play his own tempo and style, live that is, Dennis played very well. If i remember correctly, al Blaine once said that Dennis was one hell of a drummer live.

In fact,I think on the first two albums with Nick Venet as a producer, Dennis played better than under Brian's production. It has been said that Brian pulled all the strings rather than Venet on that first albums, too, but IMHO the drum style IS significantly different than before from the Surfer Girl album on.

Dennis was a good straight ahead drummer in those live shows and you are probably right that Brian directed him but I feel like Dennis had that creative side that jived with Brian in songs like When I grow Up…
Those 1970s shows - Dennis doesn’t drum like most drummers do - he seems to still stay away from straight eighth notes on hihat and snare on 2 and 4 - I think by that point it’s his style vs Brian’s influence.

On the first two albums there are a lot of straight eighth notes, that's what made me think.

Personally, I think some songs would be better if Brian had stuck to a more usual drumming style. For instance, the studio recording of "Hawaii" drags a bit, while the live version from Sacramento with Dennis off the leash really rocks. Also, even "Heroes And Villains" with that lone drum Brian used doesn't have anything near the power or drive that the 1972 live version with Ricky on drums from Endless harmony. Brian more or less neglected the drums somewhat in his arrangements. There are songs that do work fine with his style, though.

But ain't it grand?

I used to often think about this. Especially in regards to Smile. There are almost no drums on it at all. And those that he does use are very specific patterns like on CIFOTM. Interesting hearing some of the sessions that he started arrangement with drums, like Old Master Painter and the Who Ran The Iron Horse section of Cabin-essence, but then took them out. He really liked using drums more like punctuation points. Or with the timpani in Do You Like Worms, fully fledged parts of the musical arrangement. Not there for decoration, but to actually mean something.
I think he was quite alone in this way of thinking - at least in the pop and rock world. Seeing that 66/67 would see the emergence of the super drummers such as Keith Moon and Ginger Baker, the Beach Boys' music was at total odds with this direction. But to be honest and quite selfish, i'm quite glad they were, as it gave us some amazingly unique music. Didn't do much for their sales though haha! 

Totally. The added thrust of drums in those live performances give the songs an added dynamic that's always needed in the rock and pop world. The expectation from an audience to be entertained and to generally rock out! Haha! And with regards to Smile also helps to make those sings fit in better with the other songs performed from the wider catalogue.

Also makes me think how few times guitars are used within the Smile songs, at least in the normal way. Which combined with the lack of drums would no doubt lead to much head scratching by the band as to how they would perform any of these songs live. These were not songs to be performed in front of a screaming audience.