Recommendations of the Editorial team
Fred Vail, the former manager of Beach Boys, spent a day in November with Brian Wilson in his house and informed him about the current status of “Cows in the Pasture”, the long-lost country album that Wilson had produced with Vail as a singer.
Vail, together with the producer Sam Parker, prepares the publication of “Cows in the Pasture” and had previously worked with Wilson. On Wednesday (June 11th) he learned his great dismay that his long -time friend had died. Brian Wilson was 82 years old. “The three Wilsons are finally united again,” the 81-year-old Vail told Rolling Stone.
Ex-manager of Beach Boys about his relationship with Wilson
Brian’s bandmate and brothers at Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson, died in 1983 and 1998. “We were friends for 62 years,” says Vail about his relationship with the visionary songwriter and producer. “There are many great memories, many great moments. They all come back to me: how I met them in their old house in Hawthorne; how we were sitting on the ground in Capitol when he, Pet Sounds ‘mixed; as we took up at Columbia, Good Vibrations’; and then all the shows in the auditorium in Sacramento, which I moderated.”
It is Vail’s voice that announces the live album “Beach Boys Concert” by Beach Boys from 1964: “Well, from Hawthorne, California to entertain them with a gala concert this evening … The fabulous beach boys!” The concert, which was recorded in 1963 in the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento, California, and was promoted by Vail, gave him a job as a manager of the Beach Boys. The job brought him into the front row to experience important events in the history of the group.
“I remember that I was with Brian when Kennedy was murdered and he and Mike [Love] ‘The Warm of the Sun’ wrote, ”says Vail. When the Wilson’s parents ‘house was declared a California landmark in 2004, Vail moderated again for his friend.” When I introduced him, I said:’ If I had lived in the 19th century, I might have had the chance to work with Stephen Foster, and if I had lived in the first half of the 20th century Irving Berlin or Cole Porter can work together ‘, ”says Vail. “But God had provided something better for me – I was able to work with Brian Wilson.”
Brian Wilson’s music magic
Parker, who got to know Vail in 2014 and heads the album “Cows in the Pasture” and the associated film project, says that the magic of Wilson’s music is that she is addressing everyone. “She spoke to Fred and me and brought us together through our love for the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson,” said Parker. “I am infinitely grateful for the opportunity to work with Fred and Brian on the completion of this album that these two best friends started 55 years ago.”