THE TRINIDAD CASSETTE - Brian Wilson (1982)
IN ANOTHER LIFE…
In 1982 Brian ran away from everything he knew. His life had become increasingly difficult, receding from activities within the now pretty much defunct Beach Boys, a broke down divorcee with little will to carry on. A scheme was concocted by family members to coerce Brian back into the care of therapist Euguene Landy, who had a short lived stint watching over Brian in 1976. Wilson was falsely told by the Beach Boys that he was penniless and no longer a member of the group, and if he wanted to continue to earn his share of income from the touring bands earnings, he had to reenlist Landy as his caretaker. This didn’t garner the reaction they hoped for, Brian instead took off in the middle of the night, and was missing the next several days.
Eventually, after a three day binge of cocaine, alcohol and heavy amphetamines, Brian ran into an old estranged friend, David Anderle. The pair had barely spoken since the disastrous collapse of Brother Records over a decade ago, yet in Brian’s fragile state, the reminder of simpler days were something to hold on to. Anderle ended up housing Wilson for the following month, connecting with mutual friend Garby Leon. Anderle spent his evenings listening to tapes Leon had of Brian and Dennis performing new material (the fabled cocaine sessions)- always a devout fan of Brian’s music, Anderle pushed Brian to return to the studio as a solo artist, however Brian’s confidence had never been more shot. Friend of both, Van Dyke Parks, happened to be visiting town a fortnight into Brian’s stay. The friends reunited, and despite Brian’s sorry state, Anderle remembers the night fondly in his 1997 memoir ‘How Deep is the Ocean?’ - “I’ll never quite know what compelled me to take him in, I remember fielding calls from Stan Love, Mike Love, all demanding custody over Brian, as far as I was concerned, the previous 20 years of bullying Brian had already been enough… still I’d never seen him so quiet, he kept to himself, he kept himself clean, he barely ate, he was hurting a lot… it wasn’t until the night Van showed up I saw that spark return to him, we were up til 5 in the morning, listening to our old favourite records, talking, laughing, it felt like we were all in our twenties again.”
The following day Parks and Anderle reached out to Marilyn Rovell, the ex-wife of Brian Wilson. Over lunch in Santa Fe, Parks and Anderle were given some old recordings of Brian which were in Rovell’s possession, and the pair discussed Brian’s future. The relationship between Brian and the band had become too broken to repair, yet the trio agreed Brian was in no position to be left alone. It was eventually decided that Brian, with his permission, would join Parks in month long stay in Trinidad and Tobago, where Parks was working with the Esso Trinidad Steel Band, a therapist would be paid to join them out there, and Anderle would join them for the last two weeks of the trip. It was a rather optimistic venture, but the hope was to give Brian a break from the LA life, a break from the turmoil of his family affairs.
The journey soon commenced. Brian became more sociable during the first week, yet still remained a shadow of his former self. In an attempt to bring Brian further out his shell, Anderle and Parks attempted to mix together some demos Brian had recorded, it was also Anderles hope that he could get Brian a solo recording contract at A&M, however he knew he had a mountain to climb given Brian’s status in the music industry as a broke down has been. The Trinidad Cassette, as it eventually became known, was completed by the end of the month, with eventual involvement from Brian two weeks into the process. The tape entered circulation not long after their return to the US. It quickly began to get shared around the underground scene in LA, this was actively helped by Anderale, who created 42 cassettes himself, hoping that the buzz around Brian’s name would help motivate his old friend to continue his recovery, and return to the creative process.
It’s notoriety has only grown over time, and has garnered a cult following. The album today is cited as a proto outsider, lo-fi record, and often compared to the works of Daniel Johnston. Paul McCartney talked about the album during an interview in 1983, stating “i heard that Trinidad cassette from Brian, you know, Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys, it’s a bootleg I think, going around, really special stuff, I hope he comes back from whatever he is going through.”
Tracklist -
0:00 - Oh Lord (Intro)
0:46 - Sweetie
2:24 - City Blues
- Piano from a Fairy Tale DELETED BY UMG
3:33 - Oh Lord 2
6:15 - Song Within a Song
9:40 - Stevie
12:16 - I Said a Prayer
13:34 - Oh Yeah / Why Don’t You Tell Me Why
14:22 - Heroes and Villains
15:08 - I Feel So Fine
17:33 - Don’t Let Her Know She’s An Angel
