Carl Wilson Appreciation

A fan page in appreciation of Carl Wilson, featuring in-depth research and verifiable quotes. Formerly warmthofsummersun. Curated by harrisonarchive. | Tags | Instagram

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Carl with David Lee Roth, David Brenner and Joe Piscopo; Carl, Roth and Piscopo were guests on Brenner’s radio show, David Brenner Live (aired on July 17, 1985). Photos by Adam Scull and Ebet Roberts.

“After Roth, the Beach Boys’ [Carl] Wilson came on and was very polite.” - article by David Bianculli, The Philadelphia Inquirer (July 21, 1985) “Sometimes, as in the case of David and Ted Templeman, I think what happened was…they really wanted a stamp of approval and validation on doing 'California Girls,’ touching something like that, and truth be told, I think they knew I was close to Carl, and they thought, 'Well, if we get Christopher, then we can get Carl!’ (Laughs) And they didn’t care about me, cause they got a real Beach Boy! So it was fun.” - Christopher Cross, Pop Dose (May 2011) “Christopher Cross called one day and said that Ted Templeman was recording it [‘California Girls‘] with David [Lee Roth] and would I be into singing on it. They felt a little bit shy about asking. They thought I might be put off a little by it. (Laughs) I said I’d be glad to and we had a real good time doing it. They did a real good job.” - Carl Wilson, The Gavin Report (1985)

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Clip from Goin' Platinum Presents The Beach Boys (1980).

“I think we all have a notion that, where our sound is concerned, it’s a case of “damned if you do and damned if you don’t,”’ muses [Carl] Wilson. ‘If we do something different, it’s like, “That doesn’t sound like the Beach Boys,” but if we do some of the same kind of things we’re associated with, people say, “Oh, that record sounds just like the last one.” That’s been the reality for us.’” - The State (August 13, 1982)

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Photo by Stewart White.

“We began to discuss religion. Carl said: ‘To me, religion is communication with yourself. Some people call it Universal Consciousness, others, God, there are so many different terms. It goes down to the innermost part of yourself, really. From what I’ve seen, a lot of religion is forced on people and you can’t have things forced on you. People in the States are told to go to Church on Sunday and they resent it. But, of course, you don’t have to go to Church to be religious — you don’t need to go anywhere to be religious. With some people it’s finding peace with themselves to begin with. Subconsciously, I’m very religious.’ He talked of dreams: ‘Dreams are very good for people, there are a lot of different things with dreams. Dreams that are like emotional releases, fear dreams — and there are wishful dreams. You can communicate with a lot of different things with dreams — they are symbolic of different things. To some people they are memories of another incarnation. I don’t know, I never remember by dreams. Some people do. But I have the feeling that my subconscious is being very busy while I’m asleep. ‘I have no fears or hates. I’ve never hated anything. I think that a lot of people think they hate something, but they don’t. I think "hate" is a pretty strong word. ‘I don’t fear death. There is no such thing as dying — people don’t die, they pass on. They are going through another phase onto another. I believe in reincarnation.’ […] And the Beach Boys? ‘They are my family. It is very difficult just to make a statement about what they mean to me. I love them all. As a person I’m outwardly more quiet than the others, probably a little calmer.’” - interview conducted by Bill Harry, Record Mirror (May 20, 1967)

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With Shindig host Jimmy O'Neill, 1964; photographer unnamed.

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Carl and Annie in Fargo, North Dakota, on August 11, 1966; photo published in The Forum, photographer unnamed.

“[Before the concert] Carl and his girl, Annie Hinsche, wandered down the street for a walk.” - article by Mike Lien, The Forum (August 1966)

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Carl interviewed by Dennis Wholey for PBS LateNight (1983); footage courtesy of Illinois Roy.

“I had the good fortune to go to Hawaii a couple years ago for a vacation, and I was sitting over there outside and it’s real pretty there, and I made up a song — well, I made up part of it, and then Myrna and I made up the rest of it when we started doing this record.” - Carl introducing the song “Heaven” during a concert at My Father’s Place (1981) “‘Last summer, when I decided to do this, I saw it as a great chance to make some funkier music, a record that was a bit rougher around the edges,’ said Wilson, now a Colorado resident. ‘I’ve been asked if I was dissatisfied with things within the group. I suppose I was at certain times, like when we were on a long tour, doing the same set every night. Things sure didn’t seem interesting then. ‘But it wasn’t a thing where I felt a lack and did the record because of that. ‘It had more to do with letting go of some stuff I had been holding in. I had to get some rock ’n’ roll off my chest,’ Wilson said. And he has done just that. ‘Carl Wilson,’ his debut album, does rock in spots, especially on its up-tempo first side that includes a fairly rough take, ‘Right Lane.’ (Wilson says Jimi Hendrix inspired him on that number.) There’s also some nice fluid R&B like on ‘What You Gonna Do About Me,’ romantic rhythms on ‘Hurry Love’ and catchy pop tracks like ‘Hold Me.’ The latter has been released as a single. Two cuts, ’[Seems] So Long [Ago]’ and ‘The Grammy’ were written at the Troy Hilton Hotel while the Beach Boys were playing Pine Knob last summer. […] ‘I was really nervous when we were making the record. My role in the Beach Boys has been to lay back quite a ways and hold a focus for the group,’ Wilson said. ‘This stepping out has been really good for me. I’m putting myself totally on the line. And I plan to be much bolder and more direct next time.’” - article by Kim McAuliffe, Detroit Free Press (April 3, 1981)

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“Rockin’ All Over The World” live at the Seattle Kingdome on May 22, 1983; footage courtesy of Elora on YouTube.

“I don't think anyone sings this song better than Carl and I'm sure writer John Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival) would approve. This is what you call a ‘balls to the walls’ vocal.” - Billy Hinsche, Youngblood CD liner notes

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Onstage at the Bottom Line in NYC on April 13, 1981; photo by Craig Janos.

“Titled ‘Carl Wilson’ (‘I couldn’t think of a good title’), it is completely different from his work with the Beach Boys, he says.” - The Kansas City Times (February 1981) “Now that I’m alone, I really respect the hell out of what Michael does for the Beach Boys, what all the guys do. It’s like — what’s wrong with this picture? The guys aren’t there, that’s what.” - Carl Wilson, Hartford Courant (July 19, 1981) “I loved doing the clubs. It was my first time out on stage without the other guys, and, boy, was that strange, It wasn’t that I was scared so much as I just wasn’t used to it. At first, I was really shy. I had to make myself be forceful and just go for it. By the end of the tour, though, I was really into it.  I feel that with the first album, I really got my feet wet. On the new one, I think I get into the music a bit deeper; it’s more flexible and freer. What I’m really interested in, though, is working with different people to see what happens with the chemistry, rather than just turning out 37 Carl Wilson solo albums.” - Carl Wilson interviewed by Lynn Van Matre, Chicago Tribune (August 1982)

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Carl interviewed in April 1981 for Toronto City-TV's The New Music; interview conducted by JD Roberts. Footage courtesy of In Medias Res.

“I had a lot of material sitting around that I had always wanted to record, but that the group didn’t feel was quite right. I had been offered the opportunity to do this project many times over the years, but now the time just seemed right. Previously, I had never really felt the need to do a solo effort, because I had always felt that my first responsibility was to the Beach Boys. But the group really doesn’t offer me the kind out outlet for the other sort of music I want to play — solid, straightforward, no-frills rock and roll.” - Carl Wilson interviewed by Alan Niester for The Globe and Mail (April 4, 1981)

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Carl Wilson onstage at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota, on August 6, 1976. Photo by Pete Hohn/Star Tribune via Getty Images.

"'[In the early '70s] we wanted people to think we were good now,’ says Carl, ‘instead of looking at us as inferior to what we used to be. But the audience had different expectations.’ [...] At their recent concerts, The Beach Boys haven’t played any new material (they have been working on an album for three years), but there is none of the old frustration that used to sour the shows. ‘I think we totally jumped out of the entrapment,’ says Carl. ‘I think it happened maybe a year to two ago when we stopped resisting our past and having people enjoy our older stuff.’ […] ‘I notice that our audience gets younger and younger,’ says Carl. ‘Four years ago we would play Carnegie Hall and schools, and we’d have a totally student audience. Last spring we played the Anaheim baseball park, and it blew Brian’s mind to see 12-year-old people experiencing his music as new.’” - interview conducted by Neal Gabler for the New Times (April 2, 1976)

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The Beach Boys in Paris, June 1969; photo by Thierry Boccon-Gibod.

“He is very affable. There are none of the monosyllabic, don’t-bug-me-man replies from Carl to journalistic probings. And he is very considerate to fans. Moreover, he has a fascinating memory for names. All round, he is, in fact, the embodiment of the dicta laid down in Dale Carnegie’s best-seller, How To Win Friends And Influence People. Take fans. They were hammering on the dressing-room windows on the opening of the Beach Boys tour at the Dome, Brighton. Carl had had a mammoth plane journey, a car trip and little to eat. He was pretty tired. But, like Daniel braving the lions, he opened the window and cracked jokes with the teeny-boppers leaping about like firecrackers. He even welcomed a couple backstage who had traveled from Maidstone specially for the concert. Only to find both shows a sell out.” - article by Laurie Henshaw, Melody Maker (June 14, 1969)

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The Beach Boys at the Ohio State Fair on August 4, 1986. Photo courtesy of Ohio History Connection.

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Carl, Annie, Audree, Marilyn, Mike Love, and others (including journalist Ruud van Dulkenraad and owner of a record company Hans Kellerman) celebrating the end of the Holland recording sessions on the Scheveningen Pier on August 3, 1972. Photos by and © Ronald Speijer.

Q: “Was there music always around the house?” Carl Wilson: “Always. Honestly, we always had a couple pianos and we even had two jukeboxes, I mean, just an abundance of music. And my folks — my dad loved it, my mom still does, she really, really loves it.” - PBS LateNight (1983) “I think they’re unique, I think they’re tremendously talented, and they just have — I think they have a magic.” - Audree Wilson, Channel 2 (1977) “Audree was very intuitive and was the glue that held the family together. And like his mother, Carl was the glue that held The Beach Boys together. Carl and Audree were the most alike.” - Jon Parks, Endless Summer Quarterly (2021) “[Audree and Carl] were both super kind, and super soft spoken. They were both very intuitive about situations and people. They could read people pretty quickly. I think because Carl was the youngest, and was more available to Audree, he had a special place in her heart. Carl was always there for her.” - Billy Hinsche, ibid “She was very kind and warm. Very much like Carl. The same kind of energy.” - Matt Jardine, ibid “[Carl] was his mother’s son. The way Carl treated people was the way Audree treated people. He came about it naturally because he saw and experienced it growing up in his own home with his mother. Of the three boys, Carl was most like Audree.” - Annie Wilson Karges, Endless Summer Quarterly (2021) About the event pictured above: “[From a conversation with Mike Love at the event, the following was reported:] '[Brian is] still the foundation of our music and has made it a piece of history. He's been less involved in the production lately, though.' Q: 'Has Carl taken over [production]?' Mike: 'Yes, indeed, and I have to say, he's doing an excellent job. He's completely behind it.'" - harryknipschild dot nl

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Clip from the 1976 NBC TV special.

“’Great music is timeless, and experiential,’ Carl concluded [in 1976]. ‘I’ll put on the '[From The] New World' symphony by [Antonin] Dvorak, and, during certain sections of it, it’s all right being alive at that time. I think one of the things people like about The Beach Boys is that, for some, it’s really great being alive during the time they’re listening to Beach Boys records.’” - article by Timothy White, Billboard (February 28, 1998)

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Carl Wilson interviewed by Channel 7 News at NYC's Bottom Line on April 13, 1981; also included is some rehearsal footage featuring the whole band. Footage courtesy of Dae.

“I think the album rocks hard. We went in there with just four pieces and I consider the feel to be raw. Live, it rocks even harder.” - Carl Wilson interviewed by Jonathan Gross, The Toronto Sun (April 2, 1981)

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“[Carl] reflects on the changing fortunes of the group with a philosophical air. What has been, has been. What is, is. What will be, will be…. Perhaps the serenity he exudes was something he didn’t have to learn. […] What were they trying to say? Carl smiles at the question. The Beach Boys have never espoused causes. Never taught anything. ‘Our intention is to comfort. To make it nice. We just wanted to say what we wanted to say.’” - article by Jeani Read, The Province (December 20, 1974)

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There's no such thing as too many videos of Carl singing "God Only Knows," so...

“[Carl] is the lead singer on their latest release, ‘God Only Knows.’ ‘Originally Brian wanted to release it as a single under my name,’ the round, always cheerful Carl began. ‘Then “Good Vibrations” which should have been our next single, didn’t turn out the way Brian wanted. We had to have another release and so… ‘It’s not the first time I’ve sung lead. I start “Sloop John B” and then Mike Love takes over on the second verse. ‘Brian says he wrote this specially for me. He says it fits my “beautiful spirit,”’ he blushed slightly, but kept a straight face and then defended his reaction—‘I know I shouldn’t be embarrassed by a compliment, but for so many years there was little communication between us three brothers, because we were brothers all near the same age and we were young and we were thrown into an adult world rather suddenly. ‘Just recently we’ve been able to really talk to each other and appreciate the virtues rather than just complain about the faults.’ So far, no one has found Carl’s faults. Labeled the ‘peacemaker,’ he lives up to his title. At the outset of any disagreement, he immediately begins to smooth, soothe, calm everyone down. He’s never angry. […] He must watch for signs of restlessness in Dennis, an extra-sharpness in Mike’s voice, the stubborn set of Al Jardine’s jaw, the wild look in Brian’s eyes. God only knows where they’d be without Carl.” - article by Derek Taylor, Disc and Music Echo (July 30, 1966) “I gave the song ['God Only Knows‘] to Carl because I was looking for a tenderness and a sweetness which I knew Carl had in himself as well as in his voice. He brought dignity to the song and the words, through him, became not a lyric, but real words.” - Brian Wilson, Record Mirror (1966)