Brian Wilson In The Key Of Disney available for pre-order from Amazon

[rab2591]

http://www.amazon.com/Key-Disney-Amazon-com-Exclusive/dp/B005LZWGGA/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1315593548&sr=1-1

[SloopJohnB]

>1 hour later
>0 replies

Wow, everybody's sure waiting for this one with bated breath! 

[Dr. Tim]

Well, good luck with that, as we say.  We shall see, I guess.  Fan though I am, this thing would have to go to the moon to get me to pry open my wallet.  I fear it will be more like Apollo 18.

[bossaroo]

when did it get pushed back to Oct. 25?

this will be a nice appetizer before the main course on Nov. 1 

[SloopJohnB]

I'm still undecided. On the one hand, it would be the first BB-related record I didn't buy as soon as it was released, but on the other hand I'm not sure I really need an album of Disney songs.

One thing is for sure, I won't preorder it. I'm waiting for samples of all the tracks.

[pixletwin]

I preordered it. I have long thought Brian would do a great version of "When You Wish Upon a Star" and soon I'll get to see how close reality comes to the version I hear in my head. 

[runnersdialzero]

Have to say, I'm looking at the album cover and I continue to dislike how Brian is promoted these days.

[Wirestone]

I have stated in another thread, and it's true, that I'm more excited for this than TSS.

[juggler]

I'll probably give this a listen at some point after I've burned out on the Smile box... probably around 2013. 

[pixletwin]

Have to say, I'm looking at the album cover and I continue to dislike how Brian is promoted these days.

Out of curiosity, what do you see as wrong and what would you like to see done differently?

[Sam_BFC]

It is nice that this is actually being released in the UK the same week as in the US...BWRG was not for some reason...having said that, I might just have it delivered with Smile box if I order that from Amazon as well.

[Wrightfan]

Jeez, I almost forgot about this and I still want it too.

Blame SMiLE 

[STE]

Thanks for the Amazon link but I'm gonna wait for the edition with the light-up surfboard autographed by Elton John.

[rab2591]

I won't be pre-ordering. I'll buy it at the store. Mylo Xyloto comes out that same day - I'll be happily trapped inside my headphones for the day

[Shady]

I'm actually really excited for this..

It's bound to be a fun album

[The Shift]

what's the  deal with the amazon.com "exclsuive"? Available at several uk sites so why exclusive?

[rab2591]

Regarding the latest cover albums:

How much work has Brian himself actually put into these albums (Gershwin, Disney)?

I mean, does Brian run around the studio showing the musicians how he wants the parts played? Does Brian orchestrate the music? Did he actually sit at a piano and write these parts out? Does he actually care about how these albums sound? What really goes on in the studio?

Deep in the back of our minds, I think we all ask ourselves these questions. I'll be honest: I want proof that Brian has had a hand in piecing together these albums; that he is orchestrating and composing. I am so used to his incredible 60s Wall-Of-Sound productions that I can't see his fingerprint on many of his latest works....it may be there - but between the SMiLE-esque jingles tacked into his latest Disney song*, and the nostalgic add-ons (My Farmers Daughter, WIBN*) to the Gershwin songs - it just doesn't sound like the Brian we are used to.

*does Brian come up with this stuff? Or do Jeff and Darian give Brian a basket of ideas and Brian picks the best ones?

[pixletwin]

I was under the impression that Paul Martens is Brian's Orchestrator.

[juggler]

Regarding the latest cover albums:

How much work has Brian himself actually put into these albums (Gershwin, Disney)?

I mean, does Brian run around the studio showing the musicians how he wants the parts played? Does Brian orchestrate the music? Did he actually sit at a piano and write these parts out? Does he actually care about how these albums sound? What really goes on in the studio?

Deep in the back of our minds, I think we all ask ourselves these questions. I'll be honest: I want proof that Brian has had a hand in piecing together these albums; that he is orchestrating and composing. I am so used to his incredible 60s Wall-Of-Sound productions that I can't see his fingerprint on many of his latest works....it may be there - but between the SMiLE-esque jingles tacked into his latest Disney song*, and the nostalgic add-ons (My Farmers Daughter, WIBN*) to the Gershwin songs - it just doesn't sound like the Brian we are used to.

*does Brian come up with this stuff? Or do Jeff and Darian give Brian a basket of ideas and Brian picks the best ones?

I hear ya, and I suspect that most of us have had similar thoughts.  At some point in the future, the stories of these albums will probably be told in more detail by the participants. In the meantime, just be happy that BW is still making albums and take them for what they are.  Listen to them. If you like 'em, keep listening.  If not, stop listening.  I initially resisted BWRG, but now I actually enjoy it. Is it Pet Sounds or Smile or Today?  Of course not.  It's not even Wild Honey or Friends.  But Brian Wilson is 69 years old.    Did Frank Lloyd Wright have as much direct involvement in his architecture projects when he was an old man as he did when he was 25?  Or did he let his assistants take over some of the heavy lifting?  Maybe that's not a perfect analogy, but my point is that we need to cut the man some slack.  He's earned it.

[Wirestone]

Regarding the latest cover albums:

How much work has Brian himself actually put into these albums (Gershwin, Disney)?

I mean, does Brian run around the studio showing the musicians how he wants the parts played? Does Brian orchestrate the music? Did he actually sit at a piano and write these parts out? Does he actually care about how these albums sound? What really goes on in the studio?

Deep in the back of our minds, I think we all ask ourselves these questions. I'll be honest: I want proof that Brian has had a hand in piecing together these albums; that he is orchestrating and composing. I am so used to his incredible 60s Wall-Of-Sound productions that I can't see his fingerprint on many of his latest works....it may be there - but between the SMiLE-esque jingles tacked into his latest Disney song*, and the nostalgic add-ons (My Farmers Daughter, WIBN*) to the Gershwin songs - it just doesn't sound like the Brian we are used to.

*does Brian come up with this stuff? Or do Jeff and Darian give Brian a basket of ideas and Brian picks the best ones?

rab2591 -- It's no secret. There's no conspiracy. The production process for the Gershwin album was well-known, and various band members and those close to them talked about it at length last year. An issue of ESQ was devoted to it.

Brian produced and arranged the album, instrumentally and vocally. Paul Mertens arranged the orchestral parts.

It's my understanding that Brian listened to a lot of Gershwin songs in preparation for the album and then actually made a sequence, on his own, of what he wanted to put on the album. He and Paul Mertens then spent a couple of weeks working on the arrangements for the songs at Brian's house.

When it came time for tracking sessions, almost all the musicians came in with a lot of gear, so Brian could instantaneously make changes if he wanted. They spent a couple of weeks doing the tracks. I spoke to Probyn Gregory at the time. The entire band was thrilled by the strength of the arrangements and Brian's level of excitement and participation.

When it came time for vocals, Brian apparently spent a lot of time on his own in the studio on his leads, working eight-hour days trying to get them right.

In terms of direct Brian influence on tracking and arranging the instrumental sessions, the Gershwin album had more than any Brian album since, probably, BW88.

(He was quite involved in TLOS too, of course, but the actual tracking sessions were based more on replicating the demos he had already recorded and produced than doing something radically different. Ditto for GIOMH and BWPS.)

[Wirestone]

the SMiLE-esque jingles tacked into his latest Disney song

What on earth are you referring to?

[rab2591]

Thanks for the response, Wirestone. I've made similar inquiries before but didn't get an answer as detailed as yours. (and I'm not a subscriber to esq to i'm out of the loop on a lot - I really need to subscribe!).

I wasn't trying to imply a conspiracy, I'm just very unknowledgable in this area - your response cleared up a lot of questions I had.

As to your second response, the percussion in the beginning of the 'whistle while you work' mimics that of the percussion in Vega-Tables.

[runnersdialzero]

Have to say, I'm looking at the album cover and I continue to dislike how Brian is promoted these days.

Out of curiosity, what do you see as wrong and what would you like to see done differently?

His image, the way he and his music are present are 100% this:



And 0% this:



s'like they're trying to bury a big part of why I love his music. It's like he disappeared in 64 and came back in 2005, and nothing between then ever happened. Not the case, as we know. This cover, all the promotional photos and adverts for TLOS, any Beach Boys best of appearing in the last decaded, etc. - they're just boring surf-and-sun bullshit imo. So much of his presentation is the guy who was in the band that did "Fun Fun Fun", "Surfin' USA", and "Kokomo".

[Shady]

Good job guys, #77 already

[Wirestone]

Thanks for the response, Wirestone. I've made similar inquiries before but didn't get an answer as detailed as yours. (and I'm not a subscriber to esq to i'm out of the loop on a lot - I really need to subscribe!).

I wasn't trying to imply a conspiracy, I'm just very unknowledgable in this area - your response cleared up a lot of questions I had.

As to your second response, the percussion in the beginning of the 'whistle while you work' mimics that of the percussion in Vega-Tables.

Gotcha.

I don't mean to jump all over you or anything. And I DO think the band contributes to the arrangements and approach these days. No question. (Pretty sure, for instance, that the "Farmer's Daughter" thing in BWRG was Jeff's idea.)

But I also think that a lot of what we think of as the 1960s BW "sound" has to do with the studios and the players he had then, not to mention the engineering and mastering of a pre-digital age. I mean, his garage-rock recordings with the BBs (first album or two), sound very different from his Wrecking Crew sessions. And those sound different from the dreamy, Carl-influenced productions of the early 70s, which sound different from the raucous one man-band approach of Love You.

Basically, my impression over the years is that Brian is not an incredibly specific arranger -- even in the 60s (with the exception of some of the PS-Smile stuff, perhaps). He would get a big group together and work out what he wanted to hear, incorporating a lot of suggestions from the musicians present. If that group changed, his sound would change too. If he had to record it on his own, it changed again.

So yeah, he now works with a group of musicians who revere the mid to late 60s part of his work -- and who were assembled, in large part, to re-create it in concert. And he really digs it. (Probyn told me a couple of years ago that part of why Brian likes the band is that he doesn't _have_ to spell everything out for them all the time.) The music he oversees and creates therefore reflects that sound.

But yeah, the tradeoff is that he's not constantly pushing out into new directions. But I wonder how much BW really wants to do that these days.