petsite
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Post by petsite on Jun 11, 2021 0:17:34 GMT -5
I am going to say something that I have eluded to before. After watching the 1983 interview with Carl, it got me thinking about the few times I met him, the times I listened to him being interviewed and of course all of the written material on him. And I have come away with one conclusion.
It was hard to be Carl Wilson.
THERE WAS NO ONE IN THE GROUP THAT CARED AS MUCH ABOUT THE BEACH BOYS AND THEIR MUSIC AS CARL. It was a lonely life and pursuit. He did more than anyone to keep the group going and keep the quality up. Brian created the "product", Mike presented the "product" but Carl kept it flowing by removing obstacles and making sure the quality always stayed. Brian left because of so many issues, Mike wanted to cheapen the product and sell it to the lowest common denominator, but Carl keep Brian's brillience and Mike's original passion alive for everyone. He basically curated this wonderful legacy when others just seemed to go along for the ride. Only Carl really cared about master tapes, going thru, making safety copies, and watching what was done with them. He mastered many of the group's 70s and 80s LPs.
He because the heart and soul of this group. The are still here and going with their history intact because of him. And it seems the group forgets that from time to time.
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Post by Custom Machine on Jun 11, 2021 4:23:48 GMT -5
I am going to say something that I have eluded to before. After watching the 1983 interview with Carl, it got me thinking about the few times I met him, the times I listened to him being interviewed and of course all of the written material on him. And I have come away with one conclusion.
It was hard to be Carl Wilson.
THERE WAS NO ONE IN THE GROUP THAT CARED AS MUCH ABOUT THE BEACH BOYS AND THEIR MUSIC AS CARL. It was a lonely life and pursuit. He did more than anyone to keep the group going and keep the quality up. Brian created the "product", Mike presented the "product" but Carl kept it flowing by removing obstacles and making sure the quality always stayed. Brian left because of so many issues, Mike wanted to cheapen the product and sell it to the lowest common denominator, but Carl keep Brian's brillience and Mike's original passion alive for everyone. He basically curated this wonder legacy when others just seemed to go along for the ride. Only Carl really cared about master tapes, going thru, making safety copies, and watching what was done with them. He mastered many of the group's 70s and 80s LPs.
He because the heart and soul of this group. The are still here and going with their history intact because of him. And it seems the group forgets that from time to time.
And you've alluded to it as well! Once Brian loosened his grip on the reins, no one was more important to ensuring the artistic integrity of the band than Carl. His vocals became an integral part of both the records and the touring band, and as has been said many times, he became the glue that held the group together. At one point he had the good judgment to temporarily step away when he felt the touring band was in a lackadaisical autopilot jukebox mode, and checking out the BBs Queen Mary performance from 40 years ago without Carl it's very obvious how much the band suffered from his absence. Over the years I've had the opportunity to meet (often rather briefly) Brian, Bruce, Mike, Dennis, Carl, Al, David, and Blondie (in chronological order of my first meeting) and in my one opportunity to converse with Carl I was struck by both his humbleness and friendliness. |
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Post by hankbriarstem on Jun 11, 2021 4:50:31 GMT -5
I am going to say something that I have eluded to before. After watching the 1983 interview with Carl, it got me thinking about the few times I met him, the times I listened to him being interviewed and of course all of the written material on him. And I have come away with one conclusion.
It was hard to be Carl Wilson.
THERE WAS NO ONE IN THE GROUP THAT CARED AS MUCH ABOUT THE BEACH BOYS AND THEIR MUSIC AS CARL. It was a lonely life and pursuit. He did more than anyone to keep the group going and keep the quality up. Brian created the "product", Mike presented the "product" but Carl kept it flowing by removing obstacles and making sure the quality always stayed. Brian left because of so many issues, Mike wanted to cheapen the product and sell it to the lowest common denominator, but Carl keep Brian's brillience and Mike's original passion alive for everyone. He basically curated this wonder legacy when others just seemed to go along for the ride. Only Carl really cared about master tapes, going thru, making safety copies, and watching what was done with them. He mastered many of the group's 70s and 80s LPs.
He because the heart and soul of this group. The are still here and going with their history intact because of him. And it seems the group forgets that from time to time.
It strikes me that Carl and Brian were the most single-minded, passionate of the band members with regard to being musicians. Absent Carl and Brian, I'm not sure Dennis, Mike or Al would have pursued the career. And I don't mean to imply they lacked the talent. Brian's passion is the most obvious, of course. But Carl seems to have been awfully serious about the work even in his mid- to late-teens. He does not seem to have succumbed to many distractions. And he seems to have been perfectly willing to do a lot of the grunt work. When the others were ready to have a little fun, as one would expect, Carl seems to have been inclined to stay and work on tracks, work with Brian to pursue perfection. He wanted to contribute in every possible way. Given his youth when the band started, one might have expected Carl to have been the most distracted by stardom and social opportunity. He just wasn't made that way. If Brian had not been in the picture, somehow, I expect Carl would have still pursued a career in music, and I expect he would have been very successful. Yet he seems to have been willing to channel a great deal of energy into perfecting, preserving and promoting his older brother's legacy, perhaps even at the expense of doing more on his own. Nobody is perfect, but Carl seems to have been, temperamentally, exactly the person such a volatile band dynamic required. He also had a prodigious work ethic. He was deeply talented. And he had the voice of an angel. |
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Post by ian on Jun 11, 2021 7:01:21 GMT -5
I’d never seen that interview (from late May 1983) and it may be the most revealing one that Carl ever gave! Good find there
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petsite
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Post by petsite on Jun 11, 2021 7:24:51 GMT -5
I’d never seen that interview (from late May 1983) and it may be the most revealing one that Carl ever gave! Good find there steviejd1 posted it first in the youtube thread. It was so weird. I came across the video, after watching it I went to post it and there it was already posted like 19 minutes before. Good news travels fast! |
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Post by filledeplage on Jun 11, 2021 8:35:19 GMT -5
I’d never seen that interview (from late May 1983) and it may be the most revealing one that Carl ever gave! Good find there steviejd1 posted it first in the youtube thread. It was so weird. I came across the video, after watching it I went to post it and there it was already posted like 19 minutes before. Good news travels fast! Nor I. Carl seemed relaxed and very open, about what he could be open about. Thanks for posting it! It was excellent. 👍 |
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Post by Autotune on Jun 11, 2021 9:06:02 GMT -5
That’s a great interview. Thanks!
I think Carl gradually lost faith in his brothers’ abilities and consistency. And as time went on he probably detached from whatever Mike (and eventually Brian) could and would bring to the band. He wasn’t for a Pet Sounds tour and seemingly had cold feet about the “deep cuts” 1993 tour. And obviously his creative sensibilities gravitated towards the slick realm of Beckley-Lamm-Wilson. Growing estrangement from Brian, first because of personal differences maybe, then because of Landy and then because of the autobio must have been tough also.
It mustn’t have been easy being him.
He navigated through all of it gracefully.
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Departed
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2021 3:25:41 GMT -5
What a wonderful interview; thank you for posting it. There’s something quite intense about Carl; I feel that he had all the spirit of his more volatile brothers, but in him subjected to an extraordinary force of self-discipline and self-containment. I agree that it can’t have been easy. I think it’s wonderful that some here have had an opportunity to meet him; I have not had that privilege but I have been fortunate in having had the very moving and meaningful experience of visiting his very beautiful and simple grave and thanking him silently for all the joy and beauty he brought into the world. I wish he were still here. ❤️
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barnsy
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Post by barnsy on Jun 12, 2021 7:32:02 GMT -5
Carl's composure is very apparent and reminds me of footage of an interview with Carl which was shown at a UK Convention many years ago. The interviewer appears somewhat inexperienced (I think they were fairly young) and the interview is a little disorganised, with long pauses from the interviewer whilst they try and formulate a question (as I recall), but Carl remains very composed and really tries to help the interviewer to get the best interview they can. Part of it is natural temperament (there’s the quote attributed to Audree that Carl was born thirty) but Carl also explored his spirituality and that seems to have reinforced it (leaving aside questions about MSIA and its founder).
Nice shout-outs to Timothy B. Schmit and Go-Go’s, who included Belinda Carlisle, with both of Schmit and Carlisle featuring in future BB endeavours.
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petsite
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Post by petsite on Jun 12, 2021 8:36:25 GMT -5
The GOGOs are one of my all time faves. They self-destructed but produced some great music. They have repeatably said in interviews that BW is THE MAN!
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Post by northcoast on Jun 12, 2021 11:26:31 GMT -5
If anyone needed further evidence of Carl Wilson's talent and integrity and how vital they were to the band just watch the July 5, 1981 concert from the Queen Mary, broadcast on multiple TV outlets and dozens of radio stations to the horror of fans everywhere. He is not there. God Only Knows we wish he were
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robin
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Post by robin on Jun 12, 2021 23:18:56 GMT -5
Sure wish that Carl was still with us--my Dad always felt that he and Brian would've found a way to reconcile in a manner similar to how things have progressed with Al in recent years, and once that happened we would have had less division and separation than what the fans have had to experience in the last twenty-five years. You could see him responding to the woman caller who was clearly so moved by her love for the band's music, and you could see how he empathized with fans.
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petsite
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Post by petsite on Jun 23, 2021 6:55:53 GMT -5
I know I have shared this other places on this board, but it bears repeating because it really hit me hard. I was talking to Brian's band after a 2013 (they invited my wife and I to eat dinner with them). I told Darian what a fantastic job he did on Darlin'. He thanked me and I said I had seen clips of him doing that track during the 50th Anniversary show, though they didn't do it when they were in Houston (they had not added it yet). After I said he was great, I said WOULDN'T IT HAVE BEEN GREAT IF CARL WAS HERE FOR ALL OF THIS. Darian put his hand over his chest, paused a moment, and said that would be an answer to a prayer. He would have meant so much to both backup bands. Carl would have been like shining light there on stage.
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Departed
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2021 8:03:03 GMT -5
I’d never seen that interview (from late May 1983) and it may be the most revealing one that Carl ever gave! Good find there steviejd1 posted it first in the youtube thread. It was so weird. I came across the video, after watching it I went to post it and there it was already posted like 19 minutes before. Good news travels fast! You beat me to the Steve Levine one👍😉 |
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Post by AGD on Jun 23, 2021 12:18:34 GMT -5
If anyone needed further evidence of Carl Wilson's talent and integrity and how vital they were to the band just watch the July 5, 1981 concert from the Queen Mary, broadcast on multiple TV outlets and dozens of radio stations to the horror of fans everywhere. He is not there. God Only Knows we wish he were The man himself, watching from his hotel room on tour, said it best: "It was painful". |
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petsite
Author/Historian/ Researcher
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Post by petsite on Jun 23, 2021 12:46:41 GMT -5
If anyone needed further evidence of Carl Wilson's talent and integrity and how vital they were to the band just watch the July 5, 1981 concert from the Queen Mary, broadcast on multiple TV outlets and dozens of radio stations to the horror of fans everywhere. He is not there. God Only Knows we wish he were The man himself, watching from his hotel room on tour, said it best: "It was painful". From Rollingstone at the time:
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Post by karmafrog on Jun 23, 2021 20:20:39 GMT -5
Nice to see he (accurately) called out the sound system, which was just as much at fault with Long Beach as the band's slipshod performance (atrocious vocal mix, bass guitar throttled by a bad DI, and on and on...). That's not always completely within the band's control but it shows poor attention to detail when you have a nationwide feed and the sound is that shoddy (and bad sound will brutally expose a poorly rehearsed band since it will throw off your game in every conceivable way).
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