Analogue Productions Pet Sounds Reissues

Not this time, boxer! Pet Sounds continues to be considered by many as Brian’s peak, but I actually prefer his next phase---the Smile era. "Heroes and Villains" is way better than "Good Vibrations"! I was obsessed with Smile for years, getting every bootleg of the Smile recordings available (LP and CD), and reading every word written on the subject. I even made a pilgrimage in 1975 to Brian’s "house" in Bel-Air (a beautiful Spanish-style mansion, seen in a pic on the Sunflower album), intending to ask him to produce the album I had been working on (I did the engineering) with a great songwriter up in San Jose. Marilyn wouldn’t let us in to talk to Bri, so we left our demo at the gate. I doubt he ever listened to it, which is a shame. He would have loved the music---very Smile influenced.

The songwriter soon thereafter gave up on Pop music, spending his remaining days performing J.S. Bach works on the German piano he had in his living room, brought back with him from a trip to that country. He recorded them on first a Teac 2340 and later his computer, and died from a heart attack at only 56.