Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road (2019 Brent Wilson Documentary)

[HeyJude]

IMDB shows a poster for the Brian documentary that had been mentioned late last year. This appears to be an in-house production (BriMel and Jean Sievers as producers). I'm sure some fans will nitpick using a Carl song in the title, but at least it's something more inspired than "An American Band" or "An American Family." "Endless Harmony" was a good, if rather half-ironic, title for the '98 BB doc.

Anyway, no release date. An odd list of "stars" at the top of the poster. I'm wondering if they interviewed Al Jardine for this; as the film is supposedly more about Brian's solo resurgence over the last 20-ish years, I think reconnecting with Al is a heartwarming part of the story that should be told even in the context of his "solo" career.

[Matt H]

I think that poster looks cool!

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I think that poster looks cool!

I agree for the most part, although something looks off about the pic of young Brian

[urbanite]

They could have found a better picture of the older Brian at the control panel.

[Emdeeh]

I do find the choice of one of Carl's song titles for the film more than a bit odd (unless it's meant as a tribute to Carl).

[Ebb and Flow]

I think that poster looks cool!

I agree for the most part, although something looks off about the pic of young Brian

They mirrored it from the original

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I think that poster looks cool!

I agree for the most part, although something looks off about the pic of young Brian

They mirrored it from the original

Caught that, but whatever type of image filter was used did some strange things to his eyes. Think it's because the whites of his eyes now blend in with his cheeks. It's so minor yet it's throwing me off

[c-man]

The best title would've been "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", but as that had already been used as the title of a Brian documentary (hard to believe it, but nearly 25 years ago now!), the next best would've been "Love And Mercy", but since that was already used as the title of a Brian biopic, they should've just called it "Being Brian Wilson". THAT would've been a GREAT title! Even "Til I Die" or "This Whole World" or "Sail On Sailor" would've been more fitting than the title of a Carl Wilson song! Let's just hope the movie's good.

[Shady]

They should put it on Netflix

[CenturyDeprived]

The best title would've been "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", but as that had already been used as the title of a Brian documentary (hard to believe it, but nearly 25 years ago now!), the next best would've been "Love And Mercy", but since that was already used as the title of a Brian biopic, they should've just called it "Being Brian Wilson". THAT would've been a GREAT title! Even "Til I Die" or "This Whole World" or "Sail On Sailor" would've been more fitting than the title of a Carl Wilson song! Let's just hope the movie's good.

I agree with what you're saying, although I have a hunch maybe Brian picked or approved this title because he misses his brother. Isn't there a video of him backstage on a TV show about 10 years ago playing this song at the piano?

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Sure is...loved that clip.

[Rocky Raccoon]

Brian did end his book with the lyrics from "Long Promised Road" if I recall correctly, it's clearly a song that means a lot to him.

[RiC]

I'm sure the title will make sense after seeing the film. It's propably also a reference to the concept of the film. I am really hyped up about this. There are couple behind the scenes photos on the IMDB page as well: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9378672/

[HeyJude]

People, I'm sure Brian and the director are very aware that the song title is one of Carl's songs. I'm not even convinced they mean for some strong connection to Carl to be indicated by the title (especially if this doc is focused primarily on Brian's last 20 years as a solo artist). I'm guessing they just wanted a title that fit all of the criteria that such a documentary title would need to. In no particular order:

1. Relatively short and succinct
2. Some connection to the Beach Boys/Brian
3. Something not painfully obvious or seemingly trite (e.g. "Fun Fun Fun: The Story of Brian Wilson")
4. Something with a bit of poignancy and/or indication of a long journey
5. Not something similar to a title already used for a doc

Yes, it's a bit odd at first glance that it's a Carl song. Other than that, I think it's an objectively pretty good title for a documentary. It's more immediately indicative of something than just lobbing a random Brian song title out there. "'Til I Die" is one of his most amazing pieces of music, but I'm not sure it's the best title for a doc about Brian's late era resurgence as a solo artist 1998-present.

And again, I'm sure Brian and all of the people working on the film are well aware that "Long Promised Road" is a Carl song. I'm not at all worried about this stealing any thunder away from Carl or his legacy, because Carl's family/estate have put out effectively ZERO product or projects relating to Carl in the last 20 years since his death. Apart from a couple of charity events and CDs tied to those charity events, Carl's estate has done nothing to keep his name out there. Not even a photo-heavy "authorized" biography or just photo book. No CD of solo Carl demos.

Unless Carl's estate was in the middle of producing a documentary on Carl's career with the same title and Brent Wilson snagged the title first, I see no problem with Brian's doc using the name. It's a solid name, and who knows, maybe it'll actually draw more attention to the song if it's featured in the film.

[Gettin Hungry]

I think that poster looks cool!

I agree for the most part, although something looks off about the pic of young Brian

They mirrored it from the original

Caught that, but whatever type of image filter was used did some strange things to his eyes. Think it's because the whites of his eyes now blend in with his cheeks. It's so minor yet it's throwing me off

I think they also tilted the image up, so his eye line seems odd. But you're right about the filter making his eyes look slightly demonic.

[rab2591]

People, I'm sure Brian and the director are very aware that the song title is one of Carl's songs. I'm not even convinced they mean for some strong connection to Carl to be indicated by the title (especially if this doc is focused primarily on Brian's last 20 years as a solo artist). I'm guessing they just wanted a title that fit all of the criteria that such a documentary title would need to. In no particular order:

I don't think anyone said or even implied that the director/Brian Wilson were unaware this was a Carl Wilson song. I think others are possibly correct about it being a tribute to Carl (specifically the information in RockyRacoon's post), and that makes me seriously wonder if the title was Brian's idea (or an idea that Brian happily agreed with). I agree though, at first glance it is odd. But the title is actually brilliant. We could've gotten "Let It Shine: The Brian Wilson Story", or "The Last Song: An In Depth Portrait of Brian Wilson" etc etc. But the title doesn't point to any specific Brian Wilson solo album. I also very much agree with HeyJude's #4 criteria "Something with a bit of poignancy and/or indication of a long journey". It's really refreshing they decided to do something out of the ordinary for the title.

I'd also wonder if Brian spent some time recording a few tunes for this documentary (somewhat like IJWMFTT) (and perhaps this has already been addressed in previous threads about this documentary), in which case perhaps he did a cover of 'Long Promised Road' that ends or starts the movie. The IMDB page does state:

Brian Wilson   ...   (original score)

Can't wait to see this film!

[Pretty Funky]

Rab....You’re correct.

https://www.srqfm.com/music-news/new-brian-wilson-documentary-poster-released/

‘The title of the movie comes from the Beach Boys' 1971 track “Long Promised Road,” which was written by Wilson's youngest brother Carl Wilson, and was re-recorded by Wilson for the new film.’

Another point. Didn’t the idea for this start with regular interviews that Brian just wasn’t into, so they started driving around L.A. where he then opened up and really got into it? That could be the ‘road’ reference.

[tpesky]

When I saw Al in February he mentioned that he was in it.

[rab2591]

Rab....You’re correct.

https://www.srqfm.com/music-news/new-brian-wilson-documentary-poster-released/

‘The title of the movie comes from the Beach Boys' 1971 track “Long Promised Road,” which was written by Wilson's youngest brother Carl Wilson, and was re-recorded by Wilson for the new film.’

Another point. Didn’t the idea for this start with regular interviews that Brian just wasn’t into, so they started driving around L.A. where he then opened up and really got into it? That could be the ‘road’ reference.

Thanks for the info! I have been so out of the loop lately, that I completely forgot about the driving around LA aspect of this film. I can't remember how many hours of interview was recorded but I think it was a lot. Anyways, it does make complete sense for the title now. I can't wait to hear this soundtrack either.

[Wata]

Has the soundtrack already been confirmed for the doc? I'm curious if they include any of the tracks from unreleased BW recordings(Andy Paley Sessions, "Bedroom Tapes" and TLOS demos, for instance)

Also, I'd love to hear Brian's tackle on Long Promised Road (a song I really love), and I hope they get rid of obvious autotune as much as possible.

[Howie Edelson]

I wrote the article posted above.

[rab2591]

Has the soundtrack already been confirmed for the doc? I'm curious if they include any of the tracks from unreleased BW recordings(Andy Paley Sessions, "Bedroom Tapes" and TLOS demos, for instance)

Also, I'd love to hear Brian's tackle on Long Promised Road (a song I really love), and I hope they get rid of obvious autotune as much as possible.

I think the only times Brian's vocals have been overly-scrutinized/criticized around the last decade is when Joe Thomas is involved with the music. Whereas TLOS, Gershwin, Disney, 'One Kind Of Love', have been crowning moments in Brian's solo career as far as vocals are concerned. I don't know what this soundtrack holds for us, but I have high hopes the vocals will be on-point.

Btw, this may just be a case of semantics. But I don't think I've ever heard auto-tune on Brian's records. If there is pitch-correction it sounds like it's manually done on a note-by-note basis per the mixer's judgement. Case in point, Mike's vocals on Unleash The Love sound like every note is being corrected (even if they don't need to be), which indicates a plug-in that is constantly on, automatically making pitch correction. (Not bringing up Mike to start a Mike discussion, but his music is literally the best example I can think of as the pitch-correction is beyond blatant).

[HeyJude]

Has the soundtrack already been confirmed for the doc? I'm curious if they include any of the tracks from unreleased BW recordings(Andy Paley Sessions, "Bedroom Tapes" and TLOS demos, for instance)

Also, I'd love to hear Brian's tackle on Long Promised Road (a song I really love), and I hope they get rid of obvious autotune as much as possible.

I think the only times Brian's vocals have been overly-scrutinized/criticized around the last decade is when Joe Thomas is involved with the music. Whereas TLOS, Gershwin, Disney, 'One Kind Of Love', have been crowning moments in Brian's solo career as far as vocals are concerned. I don't know what this soundtrack holds for us, but I have high hopes the vocals will be on-point.

Btw, this may just be a case of semantics. But I don't think I've ever heard auto-tune on Brian's records. If there is pitch-correction it sounds like it's manually done on a note-by-note basis per the mixer's judgement. Case in point, Mike's vocals on Unleash The Love sound like every note is being corrected (even if they don't need to be), which indicates a plug-in that is constantly on, automatically making pitch correction. (Not bringing up Mike to start a Mike discussion, but his music is literally the best example I can think of as the pitch-correction is beyond blatant).

There has of course been probably hundreds of pages of autotune (and/or other digital pitch correction) debate going back a number of years here, and I certainly don't want to dredge all of that back up.

I think Brian's solo records haven't had nearly the egregious autotune heard on Mike's last two solo sets. But I also think there has been digital pitch correction applied to Brian solo records that goes beyond literally pitching up or down only single notes (which, if it were the case, would often be nearly if not fully undetectable). They've done a solid job of not going the "Unleash the Love" route of figuratively flipping the autotune switch to "11" and leaving the room for the entire album. But it's still there on some Brian stuff to an extent that it can be detected on full lines/songs to varying degrees, as discussed at length in old threads on the NPP album and others.

And certainly, apart from Mike's solo sets, the Brian/Joe Thomas-centric 2012 "That's Why God Made the Radio" has excessive autotune throughout, as does the live C50 set. It's in fact ironic that Mike in his book complained about attempted use of autotune on the C50 live shows themselves (and his comments about Brian and Al's "The Right Time" hopefully not using autotune), in light of how heavily it's used on his solo sets.

Also, for those curious about a good example of dialing autotune to "11" and never letting up, listen to the singing on the 2017 Disney "live action remake" of "Beauty and the Beast." It's as distracting as Mike's recent solo albums.

[HeyJude]

It will indeed be interesting to see if they compile a "soundtrack" to the documentary. It of course could simply be the new recording of LPR (possibly a few other new things) mixed with back catalog Brian solo tracks.

But it would certainly be a great opportunity to do a full disc (or two!) of unreleased Brian stuff. It would be great for them to go back all the way to the 70s and even late 60s, but supposedly this doc focuses on Brian's last 20 years as a solo artist, so I'm not sure what sort of unreleased stuff they'd pull out. He certainly has plenty of unreleased material from the last 20-25 years. There's the Beck stuff, other NPP outtakes, perhaps those TWGMTR album outtakes, and other hunks of sessions going back to the 2000s and late 90s. If they wanted to backdate a bit before the 1998 era, they could indeed work in more 90s Paley material.

[rab2591]

There has of course been probably hundreds of pages of autotune (and/or other digital pitch correction) debate going back a number of years here, and I certainly don't want to dredge all of that back up.

I think Brian's solo records haven't had nearly the egregious autotune heard on Mike's last two solo sets. But I also think there has been digital pitch correction applied to Brian solo records that goes beyond literally pitching up or down only single notes (which, if it were the case, would often be nearly if not fully undetectable). They've done a solid job of not going the "Unleash the Love" route of figuratively flipping the autotune switch to "11" and leaving the room for the entire album. But it's still there on some Brian stuff to an extent that it can be detected on full lines/songs to varying degrees, as discussed at length in old threads on the NPP album and others.

And certainly, apart from Mike's solo sets, the Brian/Joe Thomas-centric 2012 "That's Why God Made the Radio" has excessive autotune throughout, as does the live C50 set. It's in fact ironic that Mike in his book complained about attempted use of autotune on the C50 live shows themselves (and his comments about Brian and Al's "The Right Time" hopefully not using autotune), in light of how heavily it's used on his solo sets.

Also, for those curious about a good example of dialing autotune to "11" and never letting up, listen to the singing on the 2017 Disney "live action remake" of "Beauty and the Beast." It's as distracting as Mike's recent solo albums.

Regarding Brian's pitch-correction. On anything pre-NPP, I don't hear any songs where Brian has full lines that are pitch-corrected....I will happily be proven wrong though, I just don't remember hearing anything when it comes to full lines. Now, I won't even touch NPP, as I have read both sides of the debate, I remember one Ray Lawlor post saying that no pitch-correction was used on any part of NPP, but also remember Brian stating that they use pitch-correction (can't remember where he said this though). I do know that when I listen to NPP and Gershwin/Disney back-to-back, there is an obvious difference in how Brian sounds...whether it's an effect, pitch-correcting, an odd double-tracking anomaly, I don't know. That being said, as you say, there's a vast difference between the "dial at 11" sound of Mike's record and any effects/correction used on any Brian solo album.

Regarding Mike's comment. It's my conjecture that Mike saw all the controversy on SmileySmile.net (he mentioned around that time that he reads this forum) regarding the snippet of 'On The Island' and just couldn't help himself when 'The Right Time' came out as a single. He saw people bitching about the possibility of auto-tune on NPP and had to stir the pot himself. As there was never any major talk about auto-tune on Brian's music prior* this is the only reason I can think of as to why the subject would've been on Mike's radar at the time of that interview. And if he did read the comments about 'The Right Time' prior to the interview, I find it funny that he had the time to read the comments about the song, but he didn't have the time to actually listen to the song itself. Either way you look at it, it's absurd.

*There was some talk of pitch-correction on the Gershwin album, but the discussions weren't nearly as polarizing and drawn out as when NPP started to surface.