Rolling Stone TLOS review and new website

[Wirestone]

And go by http://thatluckyoldsun.net/

It's heatin' up.

[Wirestone]

Also interesting:

Credits for the lyrics at the website suggest that Brian had a hand in the words to many of the songs. The credits are for lyrics only, and Brian is in 'em.

He's credited after Scotty on Morning Beat, Mexican Girl and Goin Home.
He's credited before Scotty on Oxygen.
He's credited as sole lyricist on Good Kind of Love
He's credited with the title of Forever My Surfer Girl.

That means he had lyrical input on 6 of the 10 original songs on the album

Scotty is credited as sole lyricist for California Role, Midnight and Southern California
Van Dyke is credited as sole lyricist for Live Let Live.

[donald]

Very sweet review.

[The Heartical Don]

I adore the photograph. One of the best ever IMHO.

[phirnis]

It's kind of interesting that he would mention Wild Honey and Friends. To me, there's more of a Holland vibe to TLOS, thinking of both California Saga and Mt. Vernon and Fairway. It has more of a seventies vibe, which suits Brian's voice and the overall feel of the record quite well.

They probably should've re-recorded California Feeling as a b-side for Midnight's Another Day.

[razorboy]

how long has that storefront been up? long enough for the 2500 MAD 7" to be gone?

[GoofyJeff]

how long has that storefront been up? long enough for the 2500 MAD 7" to be gone?

It's been up since some time last evening, probably around 7 or 8pm CDT because I saw the link on the page with streaming audio and at first it gave me a 403 Forbidden error, but like i said around 7 or 8 last night it was up.

[carl r]

So good to see - this might be Brian's Indian Summer and few people in the music industry deserve more.

We can debate what role Mike Love and other individuals played, but fact is, the Beach Boys had such a messy horrible ending, so many good songs and talent wasted, so great to see this.

[razorboy]

some things in the store have changed just since last night - initially, the LP pic was actually the MAD sleeve, which was corrected when i ordered today, and last night the LP was listed for $28.99, today its $22.99. i saw the link to the store at about 10pm last night... wild. MAD single looks cool though, and i hope i ordered in time to get one, autographed or not.

[Ron]

When I first heard it, I immediately thought of Friends too, but mainly because of the style in which is was mixed or whatever.  It just has a 'thin' sound to it (Not necessarily bad, just thin compared to Brian's other productions)... Brian over produces a lot or at the very least walks that line, but on this album everything is tracked really, um... wide or whatever where nothing bleeds over other instruments as much, you can hear each instrument really distinctly and Brian's vocals aren't even double tracked.  For whatever reason, Friends sounds similarly recorded to me although I know many of those songs were doubletracked, thick, etc. 

[RONDEMON]

The production on TLOS is AMAZING. Easily the best in BW's solo canon. Nothing is (pre)dated or trendy about the production.
Just clean and crisp like Sunflower or Friends. No bad '80s drum reverb or vocals swimming in chorus effects (also '80s).
Congrats. Even the tack piano on Been Way Too Long is real as is the Fender Rhodes at the start of Oxygen. I dig that they used all organic instruments on this one and not (overtly obvious) simulations.

 Listening to the vinyl on great headphones is a fantastic experience.
-bk

[buddhahat]

The production on TLOS is AMAZING. Easily the best in BW's solo canon. Nothing is (pre)dated or trendy about the production.
Just clean and crisp like Sunflower or Friends. No bad '80s drum reverb or vocals swimming in chorus effects (also '80s).
Congrats. Even the tack piano on Been Way Too Long is real as is the Fender Rhodes at the start of Oxygen. I dig that they used all organic instruments on this one and not (overtly obvious) simulations.

 Listening to the vinyl on great headphones is a fantastic experience.
-bk

I'm no expert on which instruments are used but I like the fat synths that buzz through every now and then - very Love You!

I have to agree it's nice to see that this seems to be receiving consistently good reviews from the mainstream music press. Can only be a good thing for BW that his new work is so widely praised. You wonder if it will have a positive effect on his creativity, although he's certainly earned the right to call it a day now.

[The Heartical Don]

The production on TLOS is AMAZING. Easily the best in BW's solo canon. Nothing is (pre)dated or trendy about the production.
Just clean and crisp like Sunflower or Friends. No bad '80s drum reverb or vocals swimming in chorus effects (also '80s).
Congrats. Even the tack piano on Been Way Too Long is real as is the Fender Rhodes at the start of Oxygen. I dig that they used all organic instruments on this one and not (overtly obvious) simulations.

 Listening to the vinyl on great headphones is a fantastic experience.
-bk

Slightly OT, but: what intrigues me so much is that, where I thought in 1988 that the first solo effort sounded AMAZING in all respects, I find it now very dated. Makes you wonder: how is our aural perception organized? And why can my quality judgment 'meander' in such a way? It it all so subjective and time-bound? A piano track  from 1988, when well recorded, should sound the same when recorded now.
But in 1988 I felt: wow, what a modern wall of sound. One for the ages. Now I feel: that is soooo '80s...
A bit like hippie clothing: hip at the time, bell bottoms and orange-brown tee shirts, beads, patchouli... only to discover that it was stinking ugly only a decade later and you'd not want to be seen in it for the life of you...

What's the lesson here? Avoid fashion? At any rate: at this moment in time, the original 'Friends' sounds so much finer to me that 'Brian Wilson 1988'. So I am very, very happy with the reports so far.

[the captain]

Here's my take on that last post, and our aural judgment. I believe that the more effort made to make anything sound of its time, the more likely it will sound dated. Extremes tend to be based on fashion trends. So slick synths that were new and modern, (fake) snare drums with reverb forever, swirling psychedelic sound effects, overly flanged guitars, saturated electric guitar tones with whammy bar tricks, these are all things that came up, got big and got old. But a piano is a piano. The recording techniques do change and so there are (relatively) subtle changes, but for the most part, it's just a piano. I think when you play it straight, you're less likely to become embarrassingly dated.

[The Heartical Don]

Here's my take on that last post, and our aural judgment. I believe that the more effort made to make anything sound of its time, the more likely it will sound dated. Extremes tend to be based on fashion trends. So slick synths that were new and modern, (fake) snare drums with reverb forever, swirling psychedelic sound effects, overly flanged guitars, saturated electric guitar tones with whammy bar tricks, these are all things that came up, got big and got old. But a piano is a piano. The recording techniques do change and so there are (relatively) subtle changes, but for the most part, it's just a piano. I think when you play it straight, you're less likely to become embarrassingly dated.

Makes eminent sense, Luther.
It eases my mind too. See: I hate, I detest all house/rave/techno music, esp. the 'boombox' stuff that emerges from cars. It's largely based on gimmicks (and cheap but dangerous street drugs). So, perhaps in ten years time it will be seen as hopelessly outdated.
Imagine: in 2018, going to bed fairly early, and drug-free, without too much noise, will be ultra-hip!
I'll have a cool beer to that.

[the captain]

Well it's also noteworthy that something is absorbed from most of those passing fads. It's not that they're totally ditched. There are plenty of aspects of various musics you apparently dislike that are innovative and will undoubtedly be kept. And let's not forget, one of the most important historical parts of music is dance. That won't change. Anyway, music has a great way of picking up the best bits along the way. I'm all for going to bed early, an old man before my time. And now I've been off topic long enough.

[Shady]

Very exciting times to be a BW fan.

[c-man]

Credits for the lyrics at the website suggest that Brian had a hand in the words to many of the songs. The credits are for lyrics only, and Brian is in 'em.

He's credited after Scotty on Morning Beat, Mexican Girl and Goin Home.
He's credited before Scotty on Oxygen.
He's credited as sole lyricist on Good Kind of Love
He's credited with the title of Forever My Surfer Girl.

Actually, Brian is credited before Scotty on "Goin' Home" (he is now, anyway).

[Wirestone]

Makes sense -- that's a pretty basic set of lyrics.

And we all know which part Scotty wrote anyway. In a recent interview, Brian went out of his way to claim that the "At 25 I turned out the lights" lyrics were not about him. He suggested they were about Scott, and said that when he (Brian) was 25, he was energetic.

[Amy B.]

Makes sense -- that's a pretty basic set of lyrics.

And we all know which part Scotty wrote anyway. In a recent interview, Brian went out of his way to claim that the "At 25 I turned out the lights" lyrics were not about him. He suggested they were about Scott, and said that when he was 25, he was energetic.

I think what he said was that the section was written by Scott and was about Scott, and when questioned about why Scott would write that about himself, that Scott must have had a tough time when he was 25.
Sure, Brian. It's not about you at all!      Brian did acknowledge that MAD was written by Scott about him (Brian) because according to Brian, Scott has a good sense of him.

[absinthe_boy]

It eases my mind too. See: I hate, I detest all house/rave/techno music, esp. the 'boombox' stuff that emerges from cars. It's largely based on gimmicks (and cheap but dangerous street drugs). So, perhaps in ten years time it will be seen as hopelessly outdated.

Listen to almost any pop record from the mid to late 1980's...even those by artists who were around in the 60's and/or 70's...and it sounds sooo 80's now. Ditto other decades, or parts thereof.

According to Saturday's BBC documentary, many early 60's pop records were produced with it in mind that they'd be played on mono AM radio. Today, pop records are made knowing many are going to be on FM radio, competing with other background noise for your attention...so the dynamic range is compressed to the point where many modern CDs actually sound painful after 30 minutes listening.

But, as Luther says, a piano is basically a piano. OK, so a piano recorded using a basic mic on a 50's tape deck will sound different to the same piano recorded with a 70's Senheiser on a 24-track....will sound different to that same piano recorded on some new-fangled bells 'n whistles digital system.......but its still a dude playing a piano, and another dude singing.

BW88 sounds too slick today, too processed.....TLOS has a fresher feel, it doesn't particluarly sound contemporary but nor does it sound dated...and it will probably sound just like that in another twenty years...

[Andrew G. Doe]

Makes sense -- that's a pretty basic set of lyrics.

And we all know which part Scotty wrote anyway. In a recent interview, Brian went out of his way to claim that the "At 25 I turned out the lights" lyrics were not about him. He suggested they were about Scott, and said that when he was 25, he was energetic.

I think what he said was that the section was written by Scott and was about Scott, and when questioned about why Scott would write that about himself, that Scott must have had a tough time when he was 25.
Sure, Brian. It's not about you at all!      Brian did acknowledge that MAD was written by Scott about him (Brian) because according to Brian, Scott has a good sense of him.

Brian is co-credited with Bruce on "Dierdre", but actually contributed very little. Just a little food for thought. 

[pixletwin]

Makes sense -- that's a pretty basic set of lyrics.

And we all know which part Scotty wrote anyway. In a recent interview, Brian went out of his way to claim that the "At 25 I turned out the lights" lyrics were not about him. He suggested they were about Scott, and said that when he was 25, he was energetic.

I think what he said was that the section was written by Scott and was about Scott, and when questioned about why Scott would write that about himself, that Scott must have had a tough time when he was 25.
Sure, Brian. It's not about you at all!      Brian did acknowledge that MAD was written by Scott about him (Brian) because according to Brian, Scott has a good sense of him.

Brian is co-credited with Bruce on "Dierdre", but actually contributed very little. Just a little food for thought. 

And it shows if you ask me. 

[Wirestone]

So are you suggesting something about MAD, Andrew? ;-)

For what it's worth, I think it's difficult to argue that Scott didn't write the pivotal "Goin Home" lyrics -- at 25 etc -- I just think it's funny to watch Brian distance himself from them. He really only reveals what he wants to reveal sometimes.

[phirnis]

I have to say the "At 25 I turned out the light" lyric is the one part on TLOS I'm least comfortable with. It just sounds so David Leaf-ish (sorry, couldn't find a better term) and we've heard that "healing of Brian" stuff a bit too often for my personal taste, it feels worn-out, however true it may be. That said, I like almost every other lyric on the album quite a bit, most of it is very lovable.