Bruce Johnston contacted Jeremy Pierce (head of V2) after Bruce heard Hawaii, O’Hagan recalls. "Then he got it to Brian and the other Boys. Apparently, Brian was really impressed. He understood what I was doing. It all seemed fairly genuine, and a meeting was fixed up with Brian and Melinda. So we went to Brian's house, a huge kind of Spanish-type ranchero with big open-plan spaces, like a giant Barrett home. Anyway, we walked in, and Brian was standing there, holding a blanket for some reason. He looked fine - I never liked the Landy-thin Brian. The guy's 55, he's a big bloke, he ought to be fat. Fat Brian suits me." "His face contorted, he looked confused. Plus, because he's deaf in one ear, he speaks out of the corner of his mouth. Trouble was, he couldn't work out how come we'd come all the way from Britain. Or how the last 30 years happened. But the interesting thing about the Pet Sounds box set (the inter-song dialogue) was just how in control Brian can be in the studio, how confident he is within those parameters. But you can tell that was also the start of the absurdity and the nervous laughter. And the drugs..."
"Melinda managed to conduct affairs fairly well and the idea of the record was tabled. And Brian's like 'Wow! A record? You want me to make a record? Whoa!' We said, 'We want you to make a Beach Boys record.' And he's, like, 'Whoa! A Beach Boys record? Will they let me?' It was as though the possibility of making a Beach Boys record hadn't occurred to him until we mentioned it."
"Brian goes, 'Can I have Hal and Carol on the record?' And then he went, 'Whoa! I'll give you a Number One.' And I said, 'You don't have to make a Number One record - just make a record you really want to make.' Brian looked confused by this. 'You don't want a Number One?'"
Melinda said, 'Brian, we want you to make a record, and Sean will oversee it.' And Brian says, "who's Sean?' Melinda said, 'He's the guy who made that record you like, Hawaii.' And he says, 'The Hawaii guy? Are you the Hawaii guy? You made that record? Too much! Far out! Music, man. So much music!"
O'Hagan's next meeting with Wilson was at a dinner in Chicago, where Brian recently built a second home - and a studio - next door to Joe Thomas, the producer of Imagination, the record that will achieve what Sweet Insanity and the Paley-Wilson sessions failed to do - get in the shops.
It was during this period that Brian was being coerced away from Andy Paley (by wife Melinda, according to observers), toward Joe Thomas, a former WBA wrestler, co-founder of the Adult Contemporary stronghold, River North Records, and producer of, as O'Hagan puts it, "real right-wing country artists." Wilson's lack of interest in the O'Hagan project manifested itself at dinner that night.
"I could already tell it was never going to happen," says O'Hagan. "The whole thing was absurd. As far as I can see, Joe Thomas hasn't got a clue about Brian Wilson or his legacy. It's all just 'Little Deuce Coupe' to him. He wanted Brian to make a big Eighties ballad record, all cavernous snares. He kept referring to Brian's potential as an Adult Contemporary crossover artist. I sad, 'Don't you realize Brian Wilson is essentially a 20th-century avant-garde pop genius?' And he went, 'Avant-garde? Not the Brian Wilson I know'
"I don't think Brian really wanted to work with him - but he had no choice, he was being pulled in that direction. He just wants to feel safe and comfortable, and Joe Thomas is a father figure. Plus, Melinda likes him, and he's dependent on Melinda.
"The album with me wasn't particularly high on Brian's agenda that night - ice-cream was. All he wanted to do was eat ice cream. He was just sitting there in his baseball cap while all these discussions were going on, going, 'Munch, munch, munch.' He loves eating. He'd agree to anything as long as he can eat. Someone would ask him, 'Would you agree to Sean overseeing the record?' And he'd go, 'Sure, sure!' The Melinda would say, 'No, no.' And he'd say, 'No, no.'"
― afriendlypioneer, Thursday, 22 September 2011 17:05 (twelve years ago) link