No Pier Pressure

[the captain]

OK fair enough.

[Julia]

It's not good. I'm sorry but it isn't. And even if one were a fan, I'd hope we can agree these songs aren't worth the final unresolved rift in the band's history it caused. Nor the unresolved rift in the fandom--including the "great schism" of forums that led to PSF/EH branching off. Nor the final damaging impression the public had of Brian--the autotune scandal, the "guest artists" scandal, the PR disaster of "wah you guys are being like Mike and telling me not to F with the formula" which I'll bet a million dollars Brian never said. This was the final capstone of the Melinda years, everything I dislike of what she did as manager of Brian's career come to a head. And I'd let all of that go, if the music was at least good...but it's not.

Katie Perry...seriously? That aged well. You used a trendy flash in the pan no-talent tinpan alley puppet loser to try to stay relevant in 2015 and she's not even relevant 10 years later. (Hell, she wasn't relevant 5 years later--and by now she's a has-been pariah who killed a nun and can't fill concert halls.) Just the definition of desperate, short-sighted, bad taste, short term gains at the expense of long-term brand health. Even back then anyone worth their salt would've said "if you HAVE to do this, team up with Lady Gaga--that girl's got talent, she's timeless" and if someone like Lady Gaga said no, it should've been a wakeup call that Brian ought to stand alone as an artist or gracefully bow out. Teaming up with second/third rate hacks was an embarrassment then and forever.
^I was wrong, I could've sworn KP was on this album but apparently not. She did perform some BB songs and BW's team went out of their way to tie themselves to her for awhile, which is where my confusion came from. Point still stands though, associating with her was toxic and the lesser artists carrying this album is still an embarrassment.

The best thing about this is the cover art. Otherwise, they would've been better off letting TWGMTR stand as the final word. If that album was their Abbey Road, this is Brian's McCartney (1970).

1/5. Oh and Joe Thomas still sucks the life out of everything he touches.