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| Brian Wilson GARDEN BOX 09/13/2008 Hollywood Bowl ["brian wilson"] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 06:53 AM CDT
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| Re: Jan [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 05:46 AM CDT Just received my copy of The Complete Liberty Singles the other day. The overall sound is indeed more than satisfactory. Love it! By the way, I had no idea Jan & Dean were doing stuff as bland and pointless as Folk City and The Universal Coward.  Never mind, it's still one hell of a compilation.For everyone interested, there's a bunch of ocassionally hilarious clips from Dean Torrence's Surfing Beach Party video on youtube, some of the songs apparently being sung by one Mike Love (check out The New Girl in School, for instance). | ||
| Re: Brian at the Paramount, Oakland 09/05/08 [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 05:42 AM CDT I was there also and just wanted to add that Brian was in exceptional voice and quite relaxed throughout, even allowing an expletive to slip out unselfconsciously at one point. The Wilson brothers video tribute during "Been Way Too Long" was goosebump-inducing, seguing into an emotional and letter-perfect rendition of "Midnight's Another Day" "Southern California" was another highlight of the TLOS set. Love and Mercy was especially heartfelt and moving, sung very sensitively and gently, other highlights being GOK, When I Grow Up and Add Some Music. Darian said afterwards that Brian himself said that he had sung especially well tonight. I agree. | ||
| Re: TLOS bonus tracks [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 05:20 AM CDT As I normally don't care too much for bonus tracks, I've bought the standard version of TLOS. So, is there a chance to buy these bonus cuts online or listen to them streaming somewhere? | ||
| Re: How Will TLOS Chart? - UK And US [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 05:10 AM CDT Eh? Is that in the works? If there were bonus cuts/non-LP songs I would definitely buy that poopy. | ||
| Re: How Will TLOS Chart? - UK And US [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 04:28 AM CDT Marketing. That's all it is. The record company have invested in the product and artist, and have a right to market it as they see fit. Not quite sure how the Best Buy/iTunes versions fits into this scenario, but anyway, I figure it took about ten minutes for someone to compile a CDR of the 5 bonus tracks and two live version from the DVD. Essentially, they're milking the collector/hard-core fan - they know there are people out there who will buy this stuff on principle and doubtless budget accordingly. Back in the day, you got a pic sleeve on your single if you were lucky... but granted, the market wasn't so fragmented then, and vinyl wasn't merely king, it was essentially all there was. I would hope that when Capitol put out Last Wilson Standing - The Best Of Brian 1986-2008 sometime next year, there's a bonus disc of all the odds & ends from this period. | ||
| Re: Van Dyke Parks [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 04:21 AM CDT There is no question that things moved more quickly then than now. Clearly, the corporate world--and let's not kid ourselves, while it was getting there then, it is nothing but that now--has a certain machinery that includes project planning. focus groups, marketing plans and the like. Everything is slow. Everything includes consultants. Everything costs money. I believe that Song Cycle was ridiculously expensive, but I have serious questions that it remains the fourth most expensive album ever, all things considered. Mr. W. Axl Rose is STILL racking up costs on an album that's nearing what, 15 years overdue? For Parks to hire real, live musicians and actually paying someone to write out their parts was undoubtedly expensive. But really, I doubt it's anywhere near fourth all-time anymore. I question the list. Just off the top of my head, Zappa's London Symphony Orchestra albums HAD to be at least equally expensive. But isn't 'Chinese Democracy' a word pun, about something that won't happen anyway? I'd think that if I wanted to fool people, I could come up with something like this too... | ||
| Re: TLOS bonus tracks [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 04:17 AM CDT I'm absolutely loving Message Man. The more I hear it the more I love it. It just works for me the way all the best solo BW tunes do. I agree with Clay MCC that BW may be wasting Message Man and the Just Like Me and You as bonus tracks. These are exactly the type of upbeat, slightly humorous feeling BW tracks I'd love to hear in a new album. I suspect I'm in the minority but I feel these are better than half the cuts from TLOS. I completely agree too, I love it! | ||
| Re: BWPS on Vinyl [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 04:17 AM CDT So I must have a European pressing of BWPS - is it definitely worse than the US one or is it just subjective? Moot point. I don't know the details of today. But in the '70s European pressings in general were more compressed, but the vinyl quality was better (it was also heavier); so it didn't wear much over time. Record stores in big cities did parallel ordering of U.S. pressings, however, because these simply sounded better (esp. more in the high end), more transparent. But they wore more over time; and were thinner, lighter to hold. If I am correct Euro pressing plants tended to save their needles for cutting a 'master lacquer' album by limiting the signal as much as possible. Perhaps I phrased this very amateurish, but it is definitely what I recall. What is beyond doubt is that the French were the most notorious re: bad pressings. To be avoided at all costs. (I must add that as a reggae collector, I can state that Jamaica was the worst of all. If you bought a so-called JA pre-release, which always was about twice as expensive as a regular LP, you were happy if the needle did not simply jump out of the grooves altogether. Clicks, hiss, scratches, the lot. I still have to see a completely flat JA LP from the '70s, by the way. What you heard was, beside the music, the sound of burgers being fried as background noise. A friend who visited a JA pressing plant way back then told me how that could happen: outside the factory, in the hot sun, there were a sort of long 'pins' planted in the ground. Newly pressed copies, still lukewarm and not hardened, were placed on that 'needle' with their spindle holes, sometimes 50 copies on each other in the oppressive heat. So often these stuck together and had to be separated again for packaging.) | ||
| Brian at the Paramount, Oakland 09/05/08 [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 02:48 AM CDT Great show, but sad that it was so very poorly attended. The balcony was blocked off entirely and balcony seat holders were directed to the orchestra level. I already knew they were selling orchestra seats at balcony prices via Ticketmaster starting last week, but all balcony ticket holders at the show were either directed to upgrade at the box office if they had bought balcony locations earlier, or were redirected by ushers. There was hardly anyone in the lobby upon entering the theater. Even worse, the orchestra level itself was only about half-full, even with all the balcony people brought down there. The theater was probably only about one-third sold in total (capacity of around 3,000). That's really bad, especially for the US debut of the TLOS tour. What's odd is that Brian nearly sold out the same theater in January of 2007 when Al Jardine toured with him. The balcony at that show was mostly full, as was the orchestra, and the lobby was teeming with people. Is it the economy (I rented a car from Hertz this week, and the clerk there said business is off 50% versus last year)? Lack of Al? Lack of interest in TLOS? Brian burn-out? Or a lack of promotion/publicity? In spite of the empty seats, Brian was in great spirits and put on a great show. Maybe the intensity of the crowd turned him on, because it was a vocal crowd, sparse at it was. I don't write down setlists, but Brian and co. played the old classics for nearly an hour before intermission. Highlights included "All Summer Long" and "When I Grow Up To Be A Man." He did three in a row from PS (Sloop, WIBN, GOK). GOK got a standing ovation. When the band came back after around 15 minutes intermission, they started playing TLOS. It sounded just terrible, completely out of tune. The vocals were off, a guitarist was tuning up while playing like he couldn't figure out what was going on and thought maybe it was just him. In the mix, you could hear that the "tack piano" and "organ" sounded about a quarter tone flat. The show was stopped and it was announced there was a technical problem. It was the keyboard(s). After about five minutes of joking around, the problem was fixed, and they started from scratch. It sounded just fine once the keyboard was "tuned." The multimedia was a little odd, because it was there on some songs, not on others. I haven't received my copy of TLOS yet, so I haven't listened other than seeing clips, so wasn't sure what to expect. Slides of photos of the Wilson brothers got big reactions. "Midnight" was a highlight, and it almost made me tear up a little, it was very pretty and emotional, very well-done live. "Goin' Home" got a big standing ovation at the end. The TLOS set finished, then the band came back for the usual encores. "Love and Mercy" was another highlight, and another song that made me a little emotional. Brian really sang it well and put himself into it, nothing at all like the perfunctory sing/speak readings that I'd seen in clips from tours this year in Europe. The crowd gave another prolonged standing ovation as the band exited for the final time. Oh, also: I really like Brian's current bass player. I don't usually notice bass players that much, but I noticed him (forgot his name already), and he did a great job. The rest of the band did their usual stellar job. They make going to Brian's shows such a pleasure. They really get the music. | ||
| Re: AOL Sessions- Wow [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 02:22 AM CDT That whole set is pretty foda incredible. We should be force feeding crow to a lot of people. | ||
| Re: TLOS \ [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 01:30 AM CDT At a certain point here, I think, we just get to how a particular songwriter likes to write his or her songs. I think in many of these cases, Brian was not consciously reviving some past phrasing or chord progression -- that's just how his songs come out. There are definitely times that it's conscious, though -- i.e., the callback to "Walkin'." | ||
| Re: TLOS \ [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 01:25 AM CDT Oh come on man...not the chord progression alone (which isn't quite the same), but the scansion and the melody... "We look like we know what we're doing...." compare that to the first line of "Good," whatever it is. I got another one: "Live Let Live Not Die..." "Roller Skating Child..." By the way, I don't think any of these are egregious at all. I don't believe there's any recycling on TLOS that's at all inappropriate or troubling. It's just a fun exercise. I've actually been tremendously affected by the record and if I had the time (I'm still on the road) I would write an essay about it. | ||
| Re: AOL Sessions- Wow [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 01:16 AM CDT Holy mackerel. That vocal version of MAD may be better than the album one. | ||
| Re: Keepin' The Summer Alive [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 01:05 AM CDT Hmmm. I would divide it thus: Good Songs: Goin' On--so good the cheesey, cliched, retro "Grease"-like production doesn't ruin it-- Santa Ana Winds, Title Track(new wave Beach Boys), . Good songs ruined by crappy production: Oh, Darlin'--good song rendered with zippo imagination. So-so songs: Livin' with a Heartache, When Girls Get Together(though it does stick in my head...)it's too long) Endless Harmony--I just kind of get into it, despite the lyrics...a guilty pleasure, like Brian's Back. School Days(like the backing track sans harmonies) Crap: Sunshine...Some of Your Love--a little TOO MIU for me... I don't hate this album as much as the rest of you, but it a weird one... | ||
| Re: The Beach Boys [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 12:59 AM CDT I like about half the songs/arrangements. The sound I can live with, though I think Brian Wilson 88 uses that eighties technology much more effectively. This and KTSA are probably two of the worst albums I own, but I don't hate them as much most of you do--the Stevie Wonder song is awesome, too. | ||
| Re: Going out of print? [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 12:49 AM CDT Capitalism works! Yikes, that's a shame. Sounds like they could use some capitalism! Twofer Beachboys only go for about 15 though, not a bad deal. | ||
| BRIAN WILSON:That Lucky Old Sun CD+3 BEST BUY EXCLUSIVE ["brian wilson"] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 12:33 AM CDT
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| Re: AOL Sessions- Wow [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 12:14 AM CDT  Quote You know, now that I watch Midnight's Another Day again, I think they're playing along to a track. Brian's vocal seems to be live, and I think the band's vocals are, too. But you can hear strings on there-- unless Darian is playing them on the keyboard off camera. Also on Going Home, where's that horn sound coming from? Brian's vocals are definitely live. | ||
| Re: AOL Sessions- Wow [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 06 Sep 2008 12:12 AM CDT Amen, Amy. Curiously, I don't see any posts from SJS in this thread. I guess this performance is an exception to his theory. | ||
| Re: Brian on Jay Leno [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 05 Sep 2008 11:47 PM CDT I'd pay good money to see Brian on piano with Jeff plus maybe Billy in a small informal venue. Same format as the Jeff/ Billy shows I read about in the UK a few years back. Q and A session, requests and sing-a-long. Stories from long ago and new and old tunes. No money in it but would be great for Brian to get close to his fans but in a way that would make him comfortable. Amen. | ||
| Re: AOL Sessions- Wow [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 05 Sep 2008 11:32 PM CDT You know, now that I watch Midnight's Another Day again, I think they're playing along to a track. Brian's vocal seems to be live, and I think the band's vocals are, too. But you can hear strings on there-- unless Darian is playing them on the keyboard off camera. Also on Going Home, where's that horn sound coming from? It doesn't really matter. We all know the band is capable of playing live, and Brian's vocal is great. And Brian on MAD is really, really feeling the song. I think this album is really Brian's emancipation from the Beach Boys, if only just to say that he did one solo thing that was on par with his Beach Boys stuff, and that if he did originally want to do a lot more quality stuff outside of the Beach Boys, he finally is. And he wrote it for this current band in mind. And it's nothing against the Beach Boys, but I bet it's cathartic to Brian. | ||
| Re: Brian on Jay Leno [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 05 Sep 2008 11:15 PM CDT Are you calling that little pianist kid "pet tricks"?  Hey, that kid was great, a real talent. I could say something but I better not.... | ||
| Re: TLOS \ [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 05 Sep 2008 11:14 PM CDT I've got one nobody's caught yet: compare the first verse of "Good Kind of Love" to that of the unreleased "Our Team." (Much better use!) I love you, Adam, but if the notes V-I II III with an otherwise unrelated song are recycling ... I dunno. | ||
| Re: AOL Sessions- Wow [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 05 Sep 2008 11:06 PM CDT Quote I was just wondering if you have specific knowledge of "the touching up", and what exactly was done. Or are you just assuming it was done? Usually on the Aol Sessions, the lead is either live with the backing music being mimed to a pre-recorded track, or the entire thing is lip-synched. This one, though....we all know Brian can't lipsynch well, so in this case I'm not sure. Brian sounds great, though. | ||
| Re: Brian on Jay Leno [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 05 Sep 2008 11:06 PM CDT Are you calling that little pianist kid "pet tricks"? | ||
| Re: Brian on Jay Leno [Smiley Smile Message Board] Posted: 05 Sep 2008 10:56 PM CDT The alternative, I suppose, is just not to have promotion. So ... I said that two pages ago. Why is it necessary for Brian to do TV appearances? Overcoming demons? Proving that he's "back"? Spreading those good vibrations to the world? Are they THAT desperate to sell albums? We like to mention or consider Brian in the same breath as a Dylan, McCartney, and other legends. And rightfully so, he belongs there. But not all of those artists feel the need to appear on late night TV, at 12:31 ET, singing their "next single", after stupid pet tricks. Unless they really enjoy it. Does Brian enjoy it? | ||
| BRIAN WILSON that lucky old sun SEALED CD Beach Boys ["brian wilson"] Posted: 05 Sep 2008 10:11 PM CDT
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| Two Brian Wilson Tickets 9/12 HOLLYWOOD BOWL w/Free Tee ["brian wilson"] Posted: 05 Sep 2008 03:50 PM CDT
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| Two Brian Wilson Tickets 9/14 HOLLYWOOD BOWL w/Free Tee ["brian wilson"] Posted: 05 Sep 2008 03:48 PM CDT
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