I often fantasize about through BW and Jan Berry's friendship and collaborations, what it would be like if J&D became BBs. What would this have been like? Would BW and JB have competed for leadership, or could they have worked things out? I think in the early 60's, Jan Berry was miles ahead of BW in terms of production and arrangement, but Brian surpassed Jan in 1965 with the Today! album. Thoughts?
I'm admittedly not a J&D expert, but I don't see any evidence that Jan Berry was ever "miles ahead" of Brian in any regard. There are a handful of classic J&D tracks that stand up to Brian's work (and some of them have Brian involvement), and certainly there is some great J&D stuff to chew on.
Agreed fully with this.
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As for the topic, I wonder if Brian's crazy ideas would've been adopted more with the group. Jan and Dean put out that Batman album which seemed to be something right up Brian's alley in terms of experimenting and goofy-ness...especially in that '66/'67 period.
With another experimental musical ally at Bran's side could/would SMiLE have been completed?