Brian's Authority To Choose Singles In The Early '60s

Two days later, I'll stick my neck out and say yes, at the same time as the other concessions you mention. Google the string "Brian made 45 rpm singles special" and it should get you to page 301 of Jim Murphy's indispensible book where it is not exactly spelt out in black and white but as near as makes a difference! 

My two eurocents, for what they're worth... 

Couldn’t Brian have been choosing the singles, but then someone from Capital deciding when to release them?

Just for industry comparison, Jan Berry’s situation was a bit different from Brian Wilson’s. Jan did not answer to a record company. Instead, Jan (through multiple contracts) answered to a major music production/publishing company based in New York City (with a fledgling West Coast office in Los Angeles), which in turn brokered and oversaw Jan & Dean’s deal with the record company.

So, as a songwriter, music arranger, and record producer, Jan answered directly to Don Kirshner at Nevins-Kirshner Associates/Aldon Music in New York (1961-1963) and that company’s successor Screen Gems-Columbia Music, Inc. (1963-1968). All of this fell under the aegis of Columbia Pictures’ Music & Record Division, with Lou Adler serving as vice president and head of the company’s West Coast office. Liberty Records (Jan & Dean’s label) did have a limited say in how things progressed. They paid a hefty royalty to Nevins-Kirshner/Screen Gems for the privilege of releasing Jan & Dean’s records. But final approval always came from Nevins-Kirshner/Screen Gems. And the parent company corresponded directly with Jan (not through Lou Adler).

When Jan Berry took complete control of Jan & Dean creatively—beginning with the sessions for “Linda” in late 1962—Nevins-Kirshner/Screen Gems adhered to Jan’s choices for single releases and album cuts. But Jan’s contracts specifically stated that everything—single, album, or album cut—was subject to the approval of Nevins-Kirshner/Screen Gems. That dynamic went relatively smoothly for a couple of years, but Jan clashed with both the label and production company/publisher in the days before his car accident in April 1966.

Even though Jan and Brian’s contractual agreements were vastly different, there are similarities. It’s highly unlikely that Brian Wilson had free rein to choose which singles were released. Capitol supported Brian’s choices/preferences (as well they should have) until they didn’t. And that’s when the Party! LP happened, and “Barbara Ann” usurped “The Little Girl I Once Knew.”

Can you please tell me....who is "Jim" and what's the title of his book?  Thanks in advance. 

James B. Murphy - Becoming the Beach Boys 1961-1963.  Essential reading.

A book a Beach Boys fan should own for reference and enjoyment.

Good morning on the Beach Boys train...

Thanks for the replies to my question. Getting back to this, it seems there's no clear answer (at least in this thread). I think Mark Moore makes a good point – No "free rein" for Brian; it's hard to imagine Capitol granting this power to Brian in contractual black-and-white, in writing, where Capitol's hands would be tied if Brian for some reason picked something totally outrageous or utterly uncommercial for release. (If something was in writing, it would have to have been a very qualified authority.) So maybe the reason the various source materials make no explicit mention of Capitol giving Brian this authority (in addition to allowing use of outside studios and sole production-credit) is that the authority was never (formally) granted in the first place. (And now I’m wondering if even the ch-choice-of-studio and sole-production-credit was granted contractually in writing, but never mind)

Still, there was some kind of power that Capitol allowed Brian on choice-of-single, informally, at least as a matter of pattern and practice (by the way, my initial post above was wrong, I think, about Teen Set mag saying, in Oct. '64, that Brian was choosing the singles. It was the March '65 issue of Hit Parader that said, for what it's worth: "Brian even has control over the songs they release. He picks their hits for Capitol and they never seem to miss.") If this is accurate, then the question, as discussed in this thread, is when did Capitol pull rank and reassert its authority over the singles (if indeed Capitol ever did or needed to do that - after all, Brian as we know was going to receive pressure from inside the group/Beach Boys organization too)

Did the "Barbara Ann" single mark the point at which Capitol reasserted its control over choice-of-single? I'm sure the "Barbara Ann" question has been discussed over and over again, but as a reminder, here's two bits of information:

(1) the recollection of Capitol West Coast promo-man Ken Mansfield about what happened with "Barbara Ann." In his book (anybody read it? or know of it, or know anything that might cast doubt on what Mansfield says?) Mansfield notes that because of the Beach Boys' status as hit-makers, Brian Wilson “pretty much decided what they released and when.” ("pretty much" is telling - suggests that Brian’s authority wasn’t ironclad). Mansfield says that the typical staff meetings (promotion, A&R, merch, publicity) "had little meaning for the Beach Boys, and we basically bypassed [the meetings] in their case" because of the Beach Boys' track record. Mansfield's recollection is that Brian came into the office with an acetate of “Barbara Ann” as the upcoming single, and Mansfield was unimpressed with it: “In my estimation, what I was hearing sounded like everyone was having a good time but obviously not too concerned about the artistry of it all. Beneath my trained and stoic exterior, my mind was screaming through its own shock and disbelief, This is a Brian Wilson record, for crying out loud, and definitely not what I was expecting. *** To me it was clear: releasing a sloppy-sounding record like ‘Barbara Ann’ was, for Brian, a major step backward.” Mansfield says he told Brian it was a mistake and it could possibly bomb on the charts (not that it was a mistake creatively or artistically), and that the Boys shouldn't release this and also that doing so would not help the Beach Boys get more help from Capitol, which was already devoting so much energy to the Beatles. And that Brian simply declared to him that "Barbara Ann" was the single, and that was all there was to it. And that Brian walked out of the room. And then, Mansfield later got a call from Nick Grillo (who wasn't then formal BB manager but with the accounting/management firm that managed Beach Boys affairs) and Grillo basically relayed the message from Brian that Mansfield would no longer be involved in “the planning portion of future Beach Boys releases.” Mansfield’s view is that at that time Capitol wouldn’t have pushed back against a successful proven artist like Brian, and in the end he says that Brian had the magic touch - that Mansfield himself was wrong, and Brian was right, as indicated by the commercial success of "Barbara Ann"

(2) The June 1966 issue of Teen Set, which features Brian's commentary during the preparation of Pet Sounds: “Brian was not particularly happy with ‘Barbara Ann’: ‘It didn’t represent any production talent, just a live sound. We didn’t spend as much time polishing it, because we didn’t know it would be forced out as a single. But don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t be happier that it went number one.’”

Thoughts? Personally, I tend to credit Mansfield's account of things and think it’s possible that in 1966, around the time of Pet Sounds, Brian the artist was disowning what he had done for the sake of business and also to possibly to cover for the relative failure of "Little Girl I Once Knew."

According to Bruce Johnston (in his interview with me), Capitol was spooked by the two bars of dead space (silence) in "The Little Girl I Once Knew"—just enough time for listeners in their cars to reach over and switch the radio dial without listening to the rest of the song. As a result (according to Bruce), Capitol promotion man Al Coury began pushing "Barbara Ann" instead—and that's how that particular Party! track usurped "The Little Girl I Once Knew" as a single.

Brian must be pretty proud of Barbara Ann. I have seen Brian many times and he has played it at every show. With so many hits written by his own hand to choose from, he still includes this remake in his live set.