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"Brian" is the first version of the album project more commonly known as "Sweet Insanity", recorded by American musician Brian Wilson. It was the intended followup to 1988's critically acclaimed "Brian Wilson" album.

As of early 2021, very little is known about the actual recording of this version of the album, other than the few references in the 1991 book "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (My Own Story), Beach Boys fan magazines from 1990-1991, and deep internet searching. The two versions of the album are quite different, and this will be explained below in the "Track-By-Track A-B" section.

Timeline

Below is an attempt to construct a timeline of events surrounding the recording of these tracks.

Late February 1990 - Brian Wilson tests out piano and vocal acoustics at the Brains and Genius studio in West Los Angeles before renovations were complete.

March 1990 - "Brian" sessions commence upon completion of the studio. Songs that didn't make it to "Sweet Insanity" are as follows: "Let's Stick Together" (with guest star Weird Al Yankovic on accordion, later re-recorded as "The Waltz" with lyrics by Van Dyke Parks), "Save The Day", "Concert Tonight" (full version, only the vocal intro was used for "Sweet Insanity") and "The Spirit Of Rock And Roll" without Bob Dylan's verse vocals, which appear to have been added for "Sweet Insanity", as they are not part of the 1990 mix of "Brian". The recording of only one song is publicly known to have been pinned down to date, which is the May 3, 1990 session for "Water Builds Up".

May 7, 1990 - Stan Love press conference, Brian Wilson appears and reads statement.

July 2, 1990 - The "hotel jam" featuring Brian Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Jeff Foskett and John Stamos, with Kevin Leslie behind the camera. "Brian" songs performed by Brian during this gathering were: "Someone To Love", "Rainbow Eyes", "The Spirit Of Rock And Roll" and "Brian". Notes: None of the lyrics seemed to be complete to any of these songs other than "Spirit" (which was written in 1986), or Brian possibly could not remember them at the time. It should also be mentioned that Bruce Johnston forcefully tries to help Brian rearrange "Rainbow Eyes" on the spot by telling him to "slow that down", which Brian politely dismisses.

July 28, 1990 - Brian's appearances at the Beach Boys Convention in San Diego, and the Hard Rock Cafe in La Jolla, CA. Brian only performed "The Spirit Of Rock And Roll" from the album. He is interrupted mid-performance by an assistant who tells him to perform to the pre-recorded track instead. T-shirts were sold during the event that read "BRIAN WILSON-The Spirit Of Rock And Roll", but it is unknown if this title was possibly being considered for the album. Video of the two appearances shows a clip of Brian dining with Eugene Landy and Alexandra Morgan afterwards.

(Footnote: The assistant who interrupted Brian's performance is also speaking about the "Spirit Of Rock And Roll" session at the beginning of the existing video. "You be Mike, you be Carl, etc." It is believed by some that this is the former Landy employee who is featured in shadow in the Prime Time Live special "Brian's Song", but this cannot be confirmed at this time.)

Late summer through late fall 1990 - "Brian" listening parties. It was documented in local fan magazines and other sources that listening parties were sometimes held at Brains and Genius studio to obtain feedback on the tracks. One such party was attended by Don Was, who went on to produce both Brian and The Beach Boys in the mid-1990s. One person who was able to attend asked someone in the studio who was producing the sessions, and they pointed to Brian and said "he is."

December 4, 1990 - "Heal The Bay" benefit. Three "Brian" songs were performed with backing tracks and possibly Rob Wasserman on bass. These are: "Water Builds Up", "Make A Wish", and "The Spirit Of Rock And Roll". Recordings emerged of these backing and vocal tracks around the mid-2000s in near pristine quality. Close examination of the lone poor quality tape that exists of the "Heal The Bay" show reveals these to be the same tracks, mixed down for this performance (and possibly others.)

Early December 1990 - Meeting between Brian Wilson, Lenny Waronker, Seymour Stein, Eugene Landy and Alexandra Morgan to premiere what is referred to as an "unmixed" version of "Brian" to the Sire executives. It is possible that this version may have been thought of by the studio team as the finished version. The meeting did not go well, as documented in pg. 380-383 of the "Wouldn't It Be Nice" book.

This could be considered to be the end of "Brian" the album. Brian's appearance on a cooking show aired shortly after the meeting. He made something called "Surfer Chicken" which he called "a collaboration between Eugene E. Landy, Alexandra Morgan and myself." He went on to express his frustration with the record company: "Our company thinks that we should go back in and fix it up a little bit. They said, well we like it, but they think we better fix it up, like the hard rock songs should rock a little harder, that the ballads should sing a little differently, so we said "ah well, okay, we'll do it." He then goes on to perform a piece of "Smart Girls" for the guests.

Track-By-Track comparison between "Brian" and "Sweet Insanity"

The two original sources for this comparison would be the original mix of "Brian" that has circulated since late 1991, and the Brains and Genius "Sweet Insanity" cassette distributed to certain parties around the same period. Many fans have come to prefer the original "Brian" mixes to the finished "Sweet Insanity" project (especially in the case of "Smart Girls") and some fans have even attempted to mix the two versions of the album together, with interesting results. Higher quality versions of "Smart Girls" version 1 and "Let's Stick Together" have recently surfaced online.

The main differences in the two album mixes, which utilize the same backing tracks for both versions of the songs they share, can be found in Rob Wasserman's bass, which is MUCH more prevalent on "Brian", and the more eclectic sounds in the mix being brought down for "Sweet Insanity" in an attempt to make it sound more commercial.

The two versions will be referred to as "Bri" and "SI" for this section.

"Concert Tonight": Only the fifteen-second intro is used for SI. It appears to be the identical mix used on Bri.

"Someone To Love": Slight lyric differences. Verse lyrics are answered on Bri with Brian speaking in suggestive tones words like "Oh baby, let me come inside". On SI, verse lyrics are answered with singing.

"Water Builds Up": Very slight lyric differences. Brian's vocal is lower in many spots on Bri. Bass is much louder, as is the tea kettle whistle sound. Brian's new lead vocal mixed higher on SI.

"Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel": Major lyric differences in first and second verses. Horns are mixed louder through verses on Bri. Choruses appear identical on Bri and SI, save for drum machine changes.

"Do You Have Any Regrets" (aka "I Do"): Very slight lyrical and musical differences, the main one being the louder bass on Bri. Fade uses more echo on SI.

"Brian" (aka "Thank You"): Intro starts with bass on Bri, tinkly synths on SI. Lyrics are identical. Bass is louder as usual. Unfortunately the "stuck on Band-Aid" trumpet solo is on both versions.

"The Spirit Of Rock And Roll": Same lyrics, Brian sings all on Bri, Bob Dylan sings verses on SI. Brett Tuggle and Gregg Bissonette from David Lee Roth's band played on this, as well as Steve Hunter. A picture exists on Waddy Wachtel's site of them together at the session.

"Rainbow Eyes": Slight lyric differences, again the bass is much more prevalent on Bri, and almost non-existent on SI. Six-second outro utilized on SI; unknown if it was recorded for Bri and not used then.

"Make A Wish": Different bridge lyrics, louder instrumentation on Bri, louder mix on SI. Music stops on bridge in SI except for synths. Slight lyric differences on verses.

"Smart Girls": Slightly different lead vocal, lower pitched and less shouty on Bri. All Beach Boys song references are sung in multi-part vocal by Brian on Bri, and badly sampled on SI. The original vocal takes bleed through in places on the SI mix. Many fans prefer the Bri version (at least as a novelty) over the sample-laden mess that is the SI version.

Musicians

Brian Wilson-lead and background vocals, musical arrangements

Michael Bernard-keyboards, percussion, special fx, programmer

Rob Wasserman-Clevinger 4-string bass

Guest musicians:

Tim Weisberg-flute, piccolo

Paula Abdul-backing vocals

"Weird Al" Yankovic-accordian

Fred Katz-cello

Scott Page-saxophone

John Stamos-backing vocals

Guests on "The Spirit Of Rock And Roll":

Brett Tuggle-piano, keyboards

Steve Hunter-guitar

Gregg Bissonette-drums

Bob Dylan-lead vocals (Brian mentions Bob singing on his record at the Heal The Bay show. Whether this had taken place by December 1990 is unknown, but his vocal is not on the "Brian" version.)

Other possible guests: David Marks, Glen Campbell, Eugene E. Landy

Sources: "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (My Own Story), Brian Wilson with Todd Gold, Harper Collins, 1991.

Beach Boys Stomp, issues 79-89.

Brains and Genius "Smart Girl's" cassette insert

Waddy Wachtel musician site-Sweet Insanity (unreleased 1989)

Beach Boys Convention video 1990

"Hotel Jam" video, July 2, 1990

"Heal The Bay" show, December 4, 1990 (collector's cassette)