LISTEN TO THE LAST SONG, ON THE ISLAND, & I'M FEELING SAD!! BBC RADIO

[Ron]

I'm feeling Sad is fucking FANTASTIC, I've always been a sucker for a Wall of Brian's.  I know usually it doesn't really work, but holy sh*t he blows it out of the water on this one.  

Also once again, how is he the first to think of the title "I'm feeling Sad" ?  The lyrics are very well done, and a lot of times I have a problem with his lyrics.

It reminds me a lot of "Saturday Morning in the city", because of the songwriting style... however it's much, much better than Saturday Morning in the City.  

The vocal break in the middle is just fantastic... it's so simple but just purrrrfect.

-------------------------

Saturday Night... Nate Ruess sounds great.  Brian sounds great.  Needs more listens, but it sounds pretty solid to me.

Last Song... not really a fan.  It's just the subject matter, I'm at a place in my life where it's really hard for me to dig slow, almost morbid music.  I realize some people really get off on Brian's depressing music but I just don't appreciate it as much as the other stuff.  I can handle a splash of it but when the whole song is slow and depressing I'm more apt to just change it.  I see myself never listening to this, although of course I'll give it a few more spins to see if it grows on me.  

On the Island... I really like it, but part of it is I'm just not that familiar with calypso/bossa nova music, and would likely like any of it.  Zooey sounds just fine.  It has a 60's vibe to it, cool Daddy-o.   Kind of reminds me of the really hipster cool retro sh*t the Brian Setzer Orchestra used to do (of course much more subdued), and it reminds me of some really great Karen Carpenter songs like "This Masquerade" which I have always loved.  


All in all, this pretty much sounds like his best solo album ever, right up there with Lucky Old Sun, the Disney Album, and the Gershwin album.  

[Ron]

This guy is messing with us. He can sing great falsetto when he wants. Even now.

I've said it before, and illustrated it with various live videos of other singers, there is absolutely no reason that Brian wouldn't be able to sing falsetto anymore, lots of men his age are still singing falsetto every bit as good as they used to.  Brian absolutely can sing remarkably similar to how he did in the 60's and 70's (of course he was once about as good as it gets, so don't expect any miracles)

[seltaeb1012002]

This guy is messing with us. He can sing great falsetto when he wants. Even now.

I've said it before, and illustrated it with various live videos of other singers, there is absolutely no reason that Brian wouldn't be able to sing falsetto anymore, lots of men his age are still singing falsetto every bit as good as they used to.  Brian absolutely can sing remarkably similar to how he did in the 60's and 70's (of course he was once about as good as it gets, so don't expect any miracles)

Yes, but there was a long period of time when he couldn't! Think 80's / 90's. I like his shouty vocals, but he sounded like a different person and it seemed like he'd never sound like classic BW again. That's the miracle right there. Ever since Imagination (which has some great vocals) he's been getting closer and closer to his original sound. The fact that he's getting even closer at this stage of the game is mind blowing. It's like he's come full circle.

[Ron]

Honestly I'm completely fine with how his voice sounds now.  He's perhaps not as great as he was in the early 60's but he's still, honestly, to my ears, a much better singer than about anybody you hear.  When Gettin' in Over My Head came out some of the songs he sounded pretty bad on, but on almost all of his latest stuff and most certainly this album he sounds fantastic.  So if his voice never quite gets back to that old falsetto sound I'll be fine with it since he's in really nice form right now and is competently singing everything he attempts.  Hell I think he sounds great live. 

[Bud Shaver]

I definitely hear the music from Kiss Me Baby's "were you still awake like me" line after he sings "I'm sad as a guy can be" in I'm Sad.

Great tune. 

[Wirestone]

There was a change around the time of Imagination (and earlier on the Wilsons album) where, for want of a better word, Brian started sounding laid-back again. It was a real quality of his 60s vocals -- he always sounded a little dreamy. It was even there in the 70s vocals, and into the early 80s. But after Landy popped up for the second time, he sounded incredibly tense on BB85, BW88 and much of the Paley stuff. (Interestingly, he made a bit of a comeback on the original Sweet Insanity vocals, which have some strong moments.)

But for whatever reason -- Melinda, Joe, meds, whatever -- Brian finally relaxed into his mature voice in the late 90s. He stopped forcing it, was singing more quietly perhaps, and slowly got better and better. His live vocals have gone back and forth. Let's say, he never entirely gave up the shouty aspect when singing onstage. Probably a projection and hearing thing.

But over the oughts, he really made an effort with his voice. His live Pet Sounds performances in 2000 had great moments (and falsetto), BWPS saw some breakthroughs, TLOS brought him closer and closer. For me, the real revelation was BWRG. He finally, on that record, sounded like the 60s Brian Wilson, but some 40-plus years later. You could make the mental connection. And even though his follow-up recordings haven't been quite as consistent, he's still reaching that mark more often than not. Really something.

[seltaeb1012002]

Yeah, live is tough. Even when his voice was operating at full capacity in the 60's, it wasn't as flawless as the studio stuff. Gotta give him a pass there. He still kills it sometimes.

GIOMH was definitely a bump in the road, minus a few songs. But as far as his new vocals, he sounds healthy. Confident. So great to hear the guy on top of his game.

On another note, I see a lot of people knocking the production here. I gotta say the production of the songs we've heard doesn't bother me at all. In fact I'd say this is probably one of the best produced solo albums he's put out (based off hearing half of the album). Sonically light years ahead of Imagination, and even most of TWGMTR. They significantly mellowed out the vocal tuning, and I'm hearing some nice FAT drum sounds for a change. That snare on "I'm Feeling Sad". We could've used some of that on TWGMTR!!

[Ron]

That cool upbeat sound on "I'm Feeling Sad" you see a small glimse of at the end of "From there To Back Again" with Al's whistling....

[Nothgual]

The ending of I'm Feeling Sad is brilliant. It took a lot of guts to end it where he did and it works really well.

[stack-o-tracks]

That BBC app sucks a lot. The streams of The Last Song & On The Island, and I'm Feeling Sad skipped more than a scratched CD played in the cheapest of Discmans.....

[phirnis]

Some of my favorite post-70s singing of his is the stuff he did on BB85, not only on Getcha Back. BW88 is perfectly fine with me and he sounds very passionate on the Paley sessions. BWRG does indeed feature some nice latter-day singing of his. OCA and GIOMH are both pretty bad in terms of lead vocals. The new stuff sounds pleasant but I don't like the way his voice is mixed/processed on stuff like On the Island.

[SteveJ1980]

The last song is a masterpiece in my opinion. You can truly hear the longing in his vocal as he sings "I wish that I could give you so much more" in an almost apologetic way.... Brian you have NOTHING to apologise for man.

from the line of "don't be sad there was a time and a place for what we had" onwards this work of art goes into the stratosphere and just blows me away. No exaggeration I must be on my30th listen of this and I'm still loving it as much as the first few times.

I agree with a post elsewhere, if he were to play this as a suite at his UK concerts alongside FTTBA, PCH and SG I would probably just bawl with joy!

[coco1997]

So we've now heard over half the record, correct? I'm really enjoying everything I've heard.

[Mendota Heights]

So we've now heard over half the record, correct? I'm really enjoying everything I've heard.

Seconded.

[job]

I would put it in the same category as The Faith by Leonard Cohen.

More like the great Warren Zevon's "Keep Me In Your Heart for A While".  Hopefully Brian's got more time left on earth than Warren did when he recorded that.

[job]

So we've now heard over half the record, correct? I'm really enjoying everything I've heard.

Seconded.

Absolutely.  This is an incredibly good album.

[the captain]

So we've now heard over half the record, correct? I'm really enjoying everything I've heard.

Seconded.

Absolutely.  This is an incredibly good album.

I think NPP is shaping up to be my favorite of the solo albums, with the strange and complicated exception of BWPS. But even outside of that, I really liked--loved?--TLOS, for example, and I think this is turning out to be stronger overall. And just for my personal tastes, as I've said before on this topic, I loves me some non-concept, just-songs albums. ("Just." What a condescending word.) So far, this is a diverse, polished, tuneful, even delightful group of songs.

[Rocky Raccoon]

"I'm Feeling Sad" is completely blowing my mind, definitely my favorite song from the album thus far.

[Empire Of Love]

For me, NPP is turning out to be the best Brian Wilson music since Love You.  These are some really good songs.  He isn't blazing any new musical trails, but Brian hasn't been a musical trailblazer for years and years.  For people who like Brian Wilson music, music created by Brian Wilson, music with Brian's magical touch all over it, this is the best thing we've had in years.  It is better than Gershwin, Disney, and That Lucky Old Sun.  It is better than Imagination and Gettin' In Over My Head.  And we haven't even heard the whole album yet.  This is an unexpected gift.  The notion that Brian is not in control of his life, decisions, and music has been dispelled.  He is doing what he wants to do, as he should, and we are reaping the benefits.  May the man find peace for any remaining troubles that plague him, he has certainly given the world a lot of joy...I hope he has is able to experiene as much as he has granted to others.  Melinda, thank you for your part in the good place Brian is in, you must be one special woman.

EoL

[Ron]

You can kind of tell that Brian's behind it... because it isn't stereotypically Brian enough.  If it was just his folks around him trying to help him make Wilsony sounding songs, they would be less... weird and unexpected. 

[bgas]

Indeed, AGD. It's easily read as a song about a troubled romantic relationship. I do think, though, in this case the multiple readings make it stronger. Who really wants an explicit account of backstage contention?

There is another possible interpretation that the listener could draw as well.  It could easily be a song about the process of grieving, of losing someone.  You always hear people say when someone close to them passes, that "if only I could speak to that person one last time, what would I say to them...what would they say to me".  There is certainly elements of that in "The Last Song".

Actually the song is about The Beach Boys, especially his late brothers Dennis and Carl

Interesting - that makes a lot more sense than it being specifically about the aftermath of the C50 tour... which is what we've been led to believe.

"Brian Wilson says he turned to a series of guest collaborators, many of them young female pop stars, to help jump start his muse after the Beach Boys‘ 2012 reunion tour came to an abrupt halt. In fact, Lana Del Rey ended up singing a song that deals directly with the issue, called ‘Last Song.’" (ultimateclassicrock.com)

"As for Lana? She worked with Brian on a track called “Last Song,” which will serve as the album’s centerpiece. There’s a version with Wilson on lead vocals, and an alternate one with Del Rey as the primary vocalist. Wilson wrote the song about his sadness over the Beach Boys’ breakup." (mtv.com)

"Now, according to those close to him, his Lana Del Rey collaboration will be the song to remember, as it recounts Wilson’s sadness about the Beach Boys‘ dissolution.

“The song recounts his sadness about the Beach Boys' dissolution. "It started out being about lost love," says co-producer Joe Thomas. "But after the tour fell apart it became more about a missed opportunity for Brian and the guys to ride into the sunset together."(rollingstone.com)

To be more explicit than my short post above ; it is about the Beach Boys, the pain of the loss of singing with his brothers and the loss of his group after C50. Joe Thomas articulated it far better than I did. In future I will try and expand more .

Uh-oh...  Brian disagrees with you!  From Today's Twitter Q&A: 

>>Was the Last Song written with Carl and Dennis in mind?
no, it was just about the end of a relationship. <<

[GoodVibrations33]

BBC's After Midnight played "Sail Away" tonight

[Debbie Keil-Leavitt]

Indeed, AGD. It's easily read as a song about a troubled romantic relationship. I do think, though, in this case the multiple readings make it stronger. Who really wants an explicit account of backstage contention?

There is another possible interpretation that the listener could draw as well.  It could easily be a song about the process of grieving, of losing someone.  You always hear people say when someone close to them passes, that "if only I could speak to that person one last time, what would I say to them...what would they say to me".  There is certainly elements of that in "The Last Song".

Actually the song is about The Beach Boys, especially his late brothers Dennis and Carl

Interesting - that makes a lot more sense than it being specifically about the aftermath of the C50 tour... which is what we've been led to believe.

"Brian Wilson says he turned to a series of guest collaborators, many of them young female pop stars, to help jump start his muse after the Beach Boys‘ 2012 reunion tour came to an abrupt halt. In fact, Lana Del Rey ended up singing a song that deals directly with the issue, called ‘Last Song.’" (ultimateclassicrock.com)

"As for Lana? She worked with Brian on a track called “Last Song,” which will serve as the album’s centerpiece. There’s a version with Wilson on lead vocals, and an alternate one with Del Rey as the primary vocalist. Wilson wrote the song about his sadness over the Beach Boys’ breakup." (mtv.com)

"Now, according to those close to him, his Lana Del Rey collaboration will be the song to remember, as it recounts Wilson’s sadness about the Beach Boys‘ dissolution.

“The song recounts his sadness about the Beach Boys' dissolution. "It started out being about lost love," says co-producer Joe Thomas. "But after the tour fell apart it became more about a missed opportunity for Brian and the guys to ride into the sunset together."(rollingstone.com)

To be more explicit than my short post above ; it is about the Beach Boys, the pain of the loss of singing with his brothers and the loss of his group after C50. Joe Thomas articulated it far better than I did. In future I will try and expand more .

Uh-oh...  Brian disagrees with you!  From Today's Twitter Q&A: 

>>Was the Last Song written with Carl and Dennis in mind?
no, it was just about the end of a relationship. <<

Well, that was Brian TODAY.  He does give the answer that strikes him at the moment, as we know.  He isn't lying, it's what pops to mind at the time.  I'm sure it was "all of the above, sort of."

[Andrew G. Doe]

Worst job in the world: being Brian Wilson's publicist. 

[phirnis]

One more thing re: On the Island: I like the lyrics just fine but come to think of it, they're very Still Cruisin'/Summer in Paradise.