Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

[Awesoman]

I love the LPR soundtrack. "Raw" Brian exactly like I like him, darn Joe Thomas out of the picture. I consider the promise of the fabled R&R album fulfilled, and in a sane world "Rock and roll has got a hold on me" would be a Number 1 hit. I proposed the song to some friends, not BB/BW fans, and they were enthusiastic about it.

That track would need a hell of a lot of polish to make it radio friendly. 

Keeping the legit complaints of Joe Thomas's glossy production style in mind, I'd still take No Pier Pressure over this soundtrack any day of the week.  The songs are just stronger on there, and I did not mind the abundance of guest appearances.  I get the complaints people had with it sounding a bit too modern, but I think it actually worked in the album's benefit. 

[Zenobi]

I''ll choose actually good over radio friendly, any day. And yes, I know that means not getting to Number 1. I did not say that we are living in a sane world.

However, I notice that many were asking for "raw" Brian when he was doing ""polished", but now that he did "raw" now they want "polished".

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Yup…noticed that too.

[thetojo]

You always want what you don't got!

[rab2591]

In this fandom especially...at least a certain sect of people who can't find the good in anything.

I disliked Mike's UTL solo album, but I still tried to find things to enjoy about it (and I did)...Ram Raj still comes to mind as one of those songs I'm glad Mike recorded, and I listen to it every now and then. But when it comes to Brian's music, some people just gotta hate on it...I mean, a mod at the Endless Bitchfest forum had to RENAME the thread dedicated to Brian's solo album because the original name of the thread was a knock at the album. They literally have to moderate/censor the hate that Brian receives over there because there's so much non-stop whining that occurs about Brian's solo career. I mean heck, as Billy mentioned, some guy there was calling for Brian's solo discography to be done away with after Brian's passing like a Nazi book burning. It's so absurd that it was almost troll-level-behavior, but people there hate Brian's music that much so it's honestly not surprising* *yes there are a lot of great people/posters over there, I don't know how they can stand the nauseating waft of lies, annoyance, and constant Brian hate over there.

Meanwhile, I think most fans are realistic about Brian's solo career: it's not perfect, but it has a lot of beautiful gems. I'm just happy that the guy still likes making music - same with Mike. It's great these guys can ignore the BS and perform/record music. I hope I'm that energetic at their ages!

[CenturyDeprived]

In my opinion, the pinnacle of the right kind of polish in BW's solo career is the Gershwin album.

By a mile.

His voice sounds fantastic and whatever pitch correction artifacts on there are exceedingly minimal and not distracting to my ears whatsoever. They totally nailed it in the production on the album and Brian clearly really took his time on those vocals.

It doesn't have to be the extremes of Joe Thomas NPP versus this new rawer soundtrack.

But I also understand he is getting older and either might not have the patience or there could be any number of factors why we aren't getting another Gershwin level album these days. But I'm grateful for what we are getting nevertheless.

[rab2591]

Absolutely, CD. I think the production on Gershwin was the pinnacle of his solo career. I do wish we could hear Darian’s original mix though.

I imagine since this project wasn’t a full stand-alone album that Brian wasn’t too picky about his vocals (or the instrumentals). I think if Brian were doing a full on production (Pleasure Island?) that he would spend a lot more time getting his vocals right.

[Awesoman]

I''ll choose actually good over radio friendly, any day. And yes, I know that means not getting to Number 1. I did not say that we are living in a sane world.

However, I notice that many were asking for "raw" Brian when he was doing ""polished", but now that he did "raw" now they want "polished".

Nah, I don't care if the music is radio friendly or not.  I only care if the music appeals to me.  The music on the soundtrack simply does not.  And I think all the best Paley tracks ("Soul Searchin', "You're Still a Mystery", "Saturday Morning in the City") were already released on other albums and box sets. 

[Zenobi]

I confess that I love most Brian at his quirkiest and rawest. My fav Beach Boys albums are Smiley Smile and Love You, if we exclude the Smile Sessions. I dig the Long Promised Road soundtrack so much because to my ears it sounds me like "Love You meets the Rock and Roll Album".

That Brian still does these things when almost everybody around him (bandmates, family, producers, fans...) has tried to "sanitize" him and make him more "mainstream", is the real miracle about him. I think that the only one who really understands Brian musically is Darian.

[CenturyDeprived]

Absolutely, CD. I think the production on Gershwin was the pinnacle of his solo career. I do wish we could hear Darian’s original mix though.

I imagine since this project wasn’t a full stand-alone album that Brian wasn’t too picky about his vocals (or the instrumentals). I think if Brian were doing a full on production (Pleasure Island?) that he would spend a lot more time getting his vocals right.

I had no idea there was an original Gershwin mix by Darian, that would be great to hear indeed!

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I confess that I love most Brian at his quirkiest and rawest. My fav Beach Boys albums are Smiley Smile and Love You, if we exclude the Smile Sessions. I dig the Long Promised Road soundtrack so much because to my ears it sounds me like "Love You meets the Rock and Roll Album".

That Brian still does these things when almost everybody around him (bandmates, family, producers, fans...) has tried to "sanitize" him and make him more "mainstream", is the real miracle about him. I think that the only one who really understands Brian musically is Darian.

In all fairness, though, a lot of that polish has come at Brian's request...depends on the mood. He has gone on record as saying that if auto tune had been around in the 60s, he'd have been all over it

[Wirestone]

I think Brian knows what he wants. No Pier Pressure, TWGMTR and Imagination were all plays for wide, mainstream success. This project is a soundtrack to a documentary and a lower-key deal.

I see the raw and polished Brian as two sides of the same coin, and both are conscious choices for a creative artist.

That was one of the reasons I was and remain (to an extent) a defender of the Gettin' In Over My Head album. It was similarly self-produced, fairly raw in sound, and I valued that about it. No, it wasn't Smile or BW88 or Imagination or even Sweet Insanity. But it had its homespun charms nonetheless, just as this soundtrack does.

[rab2591]

Wirestone, do you have any guesses as to why GIOMH isn’t available on streaming services? I have it in my personal collection, but it’s odd that it’s like this Summer In Paradise-type album that is unavailable to people via streaming.

[Zenobi]

I agree that Brian's various "modes" are creative choices, depending on circumstances and mood. As I said, I prefer him in "quirky" mode, and guess we would have a bit more of that if practically all the world had not pushed him, often rather heavily, toward the opposite. Just guess, could well be wrong.
In fact, I don't hate GIOMH either, and I surely prefer it to NPP, but at least at the moment I like LPR much more. In part because there is more rock and roll, and good rock and roll IMO, in part because I think GIOMH features lesser versions of several songs from the Wilson/Paley sessions. In particular, I think the original GIOMH (the song), as listenable in Brian's site, is fantastic. The only real gripe I have about LPR is I'd put the Wilson/Paley GIOMH instead of "Must be a miracle", which I find syrupy. 

[Rocker]

Absolutely, CD. I think the production on Gershwin was the pinnacle of his solo career. I do wish we could hear Darian’s original mix though.

I imagine since this project wasn’t a full stand-alone album that Brian wasn’t too picky about his vocals (or the instrumentals). I think if Brian were doing a full on production (Pleasure Island?) that he would spend a lot more time getting his vocals right.

I had no idea there was an original Gershwin mix by Darian, that would be great to hear indeed!

IIRC it was said that the mix by Al Schmitt doesn't sound very different to what was done by Brian, Darian and Nick Walusko.

[Wirestone]

Wirestone, do you have any guesses as to why GIOMH isn’t available on streaming services? I have it in my personal collection, but it’s odd that it’s like this Summer In Paradise-type album that is unavailable to people via streaming.

I’m not sure it’s intentional. When asked a year or two ago on this board, Mark L. was surprised and said he’d look into it. I suspect there might be something hinky about the rights — it was released as part of a two-album deal with Warner’s, but Nonesuch wouldn’t take it so Rhino put it out. Two tracks appear on the best of, so I don’t think the BW folk are that embarrassed by it (not that they should be).

[Wirestone]

IIRC, the Al S. mix of Gershwin was a Grammy Award play. He gave an interview about the process, and it seems like the main change he made was replacing digital reverb with actual reverb from the Capitol Tower. I don’t think he was a weak link in the process for that record. (Lyrics ghost written by Scotty’s wife, on the other hand …)

[Zenobi]

As far as you know, is she responsible for One Kind of Love, too? It has the same kind of clunky and long winded lyrics as The Like in I Love You. About the latter, when a title sounds like a review for a  Beach Boys album something is off.

Not so bad as The Last Song, however... I wonder who is really responsible for THAT. Lana Del Rey has all my sympathy.

[Lonely Summer]

Also, I gotta say how on earth is there basically two new albums out by Brian Wilson and this board kinda don't care for sh*t? Like...two pages for this soundtrack? Has this forum really hit the shits that much? Shame.

The soundtrack is not available on vinyl, cd, cassette. I suspect there'd be more excitement about it if it was a physical release we could hold in our hands.

[Zenobi]

I am also underwhelmed by the reaction, or lack of thereof, to these latest two albums. That you can't buy a physical copy of LPR, though unfortunate, should not matter so much. The music is there.

[HeyJude]

The "LPR" soundtrack is a great kind of catch-all. If this is what it takes to drop some additional Paley tracks, so be it.

I don't know that it works as an "album" proper, nor particularly as a "soundtrack" in that a bunch of the songs are either not in the film at all or barely heard.

I think a "proper" release of the Paley stuff would have been preferable, obviously. It's weird now that we have pristine copies of a lot of the Paley stuff, but you have to hodge podge it together with this LPR soundtrack, download several songs off of Brian's website, pick up the "Playback" set, etc.

Some folks are trying to frame this album as either his infamous "Rock and Roll Album", or frame it as the "stripped down" sort of album some fans have called for over the years. I suppose it fits the description of the former a bit more, though I think this is partly sort of accidental. For me, in the past when I've mentioned a "stripped down/back to basics" sort of Brian album, this is not what I was talking about. My thought has always been to have an album of Brian solo at the piano playing and singing new songs wholly written by himself, a "Pure Brian" sort of thing, and then also something a bit more along the lines of a Rick Rubin/Johnny Cash sort of project, again with mostly new material.

"At My Piano" is a different animal, but I quite like it.

What we have with the LPR soundtrack is basically a dump of roughly half recent studio recordings, and half more vintage solo outtakes. Cool, and a great little surprise.

I can't claim "Rock and Roll Has Got a Hold On Me" is like A-list material. It kind of sounds like a more well-produced version of Mike's "This Too Shall Pass", but without the awful lyrics. The other relatively recent covers are cool curios. A few of the Paley tracks (and "Right Where I Belong") are probably the standouts, although weirdly some of the Paley stuff seems to have been mixed kind of wonky.

[HeyJude]

One has to acknowledge that the "LPR" soundtrack is a pretty lowkey release, even for Brian solo album standards. We didn't even have a confirmed tracklisting or release date until pretty recently. I'm fine streaming and downloading, but given the demographics of Brian's fan base, I'm sure a physical release of the set would have helped as well.

"At My Piano" obviously had much more of a push and promotion, with "singles" , etc.

I'm sure the lack of heavy discussion is due to all sorts of factors, and I can't deny that two albums and a doc would get more discussion at some other points over the years. But among those factors, is that while this is a nice chunk of Brian material (two albums and a doc), and while fans can dissect the most mundane and insignificant things, I think it's also the case that some of these projects don't have like a TON of things to talk about. The new doc is cool, but like its soundtrack, it's kind of a mellow curio. Similarly, "At My Piano" has beautiful music on it, but it's still covers of mostly well-known songs.

I would imagine like a long-form, thorough history of the BBs and/or Brian, along the lines of the "Beatles Anthology", would get far more attention and discussion, and I'm also sure a full, new studio album with like 14 new songs front to back, would also get more attention. I'm not downplaying the coolness of the three projects we've gotten. But it's kind of the most low-key such an onslaught of material could possibly be, if that makes any sense.

[Zenobi]

I think a whole album of new material, either solo Brian at the piano or fully produced, is just a pipe dream. Brian is 79, and has been mentally ill since God only knows. He's already a walking miracle. What did Syd Barrett do after his crisis, to name just an example? I'd add Kevin Ayers, in case anybody remembers the Soft Machine. The same could well have happened to Brian. In that case, I'd not be here bitching about NPP.

Said that, everybody is entitled to their opinions, including me. I still don't dig NPP, nor almost everything Joe Thomas put his wrestler hands on. Btw, I am fed with songs about the unavoidable end of Summer. We all know that, no need to harp endlessly on it. Hey, I almost agree with Mike on this!

So, I welcome the piano album. Some very nice renditions (particularly Good Vibes). Sketches of SMiLE alone is worth the ticket price. Hearing a SMiLE mini-suite right from the source is an unexpected delight. And the album does not end with some downer, ends with GV. Thinking of it, if we include GV there is about 12 minutes worth of SMiLE in the album. Cool! But of course Brian did not play any of it... just kidding.

So, I welcome LPR, as disjointed and imperfect as it is. No JT, no end of Summer. Some good Wilson/Paley tunes, some very good rockers, a good new song. Works for me!

Would I want an official release of the whole Wilson/Paley sessions, possibly without remixes? Hell yeah! This week I read about a comment about "The best album which never was"... talking of the WP sessions. Does that remind you of anything from 1966/1967?

[Cristian Kiper]

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I think Joe Thomas does a good job when it comes to recording Brian's vocals. In a perfect world, we would have an album with backing tracks produced by Brian/Andy/Darian and vocals (and only vocals) produced by Joe. TWGMTR isn't his best work, but the vocals in Imagination and No Pier Pressure sound great, IMO.

As others have mentioned, the new songs in the soundtrack sound like they contain vocals that were done in a single/first take, and that's it. Maybe that's the sound they were going for, maybe Brian didn't feel like spending too much time recording these songs, maybe he was just having fun, taping footage for the documentary, not thinking necessarily about a proper album... And this is me just guessing, but I think most people don't dare question Brian when it comes to recording. He's Brian Wilson, after all. But it seems to me that Joe isn't afraid to tell Brian when they need another take. So, yes, I would have preferred if these new songs had vocals produced by Joe.

On a different note, I wonder what source they used for the Paley tracks. Must Be A Miracle sounds great, but there's a lot of hiss on the other tracks, it almost feels like listening to an old cassette. You can particularly tell with I'm Goin' Home at the 3:00 minute mark, when the track goes quiet, you can hear a lot of hiss using headphones. Maybe it's the same source they used for the tracks they uploaded to brianwilson.com, they sound much better than what we had available in bootlegs, but still don't sound like something that's ready for commercial release.

Having said that, I'm very happy we got a new Brian Wilson album. Keep them coming.

[debonbon]

On a different note, I wonder what source they used for the Paley tracks. Must Be A Miracle sounds great, but there's a lot of hiss on the other tracks, it almost feels like listening to an old cassette. You can particularly tell with I'm Goin' Home at the 3:00 minute mark, when the track goes quiet, you can hear a lot of hiss using headphones. Maybe it's the same source they used for the tracks they uploaded to brianwilson.com, they sound much better than what we had available in bootlegs, but still don't sound like something that's ready for commercial release.

Having said that, I'm very happy we got a new Brian Wilson album. Keep them coming.

The Paley sessions were recorded to tape, the newer ones digital. The glory of tape hiss!