Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin

[ESQ Editor]

Listening to Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin in its entirety. I am blown away!

In my opinion this is Brian's greatest work since Pet Sounds (1966). We all watched BW on the SMiLE documentary struggling with his motivation… Not here. Every track is a reminder of what made Brian great to begin with. The album has everything. There's several really nice Four Freshman-style moments, Pet Sounds moments, SMiLE moments, etc. How does he sound? That's subjective to the listener, but I will say — without question — that Brian loves this music and you can tell.

Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin is Brian Wilson coming full circle. Perhaps, for all of us Brian Wilson fans, the cool thing might be that we learn more about the music of Brian's childhood and the music that he fell in love with.

The song available on Branwilson.com, "The Like In I Love You," barely scratches the surface for this song cycle. Brian even sings "I Loves You Porgy" from the female perspective, and stays true to the original.

I can only think of two words to describe Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin: Career-defining!

Brian has turned a corner, and will now have jazz and blues musicians listening to his music that would otherwise not even know who Brian Wilson is. For my money, Brian is the greatest songwriter to ever live. Teaming with Gershwin is a masterstroke.

Get ready for August 17, and be excited!!!

[Wirestone]

Wow. Nice write-up. I was wondering about "I Loves You..." Sounds like he just went for it.

[?]

I am so jealous!!!  Thanks for posting your review.

[Smilin Ed H]

I know it's on Disney, but is it on a subisdiary label?

[runnersdialzero]

Thanks for the update, although I have a feeling you'll be taking...

In my opinion this is Brian's greatest work since Pet Sounds (1966).

... back at one point or another.

[drbeachboy]

...and why is that, pray tell? You seem to make remarks and never back them up. It's his opinion and he's entitled to it. It gives me great hope that it will be great, but I'm holding off on my opinion, until like David, I hear it in it's entirety.

[Shady]

wow, that's some review.

So excited for this album

[runnersdialzero]

...and why is that, pray tell? You seem to make remarks and never back them up. It's his opinion and he's entitled to it.

The best thing since Pet Sounds? Think about everything Brian has done since Pet Sounds and you'll realize it's a huge claim to make, especially considering the newness factor could easily play into it.

I'm not talking sh*t about this guy at all, just saying.

Anything else I've said before that you were wondering about?

[Peter Reum]

This is the third rave review I've heard...so we have much to anticipate...

[punkinhead]

oh man, I gotta hard on for this   

[Alex]

I'll start awe-ing once I hear it. There better be some farting synths!

[Andrew G. Doe]

...and why is that, pray tell? You seem to make remarks and never back them up. It's his opinion and he's entitled to it.

The best thing since Pet Sounds? Think about everything Brian has done since Pet Sounds and you'll realize it's a huge claim to make, especially considering the newness factor could easily play into it.

The best thing he's released since Pet Sounds. Fact.

[Mr. Cohen]

Better than "Funky Pretty" + "Mt. Vernon & Fairway"? I'm afraid, sir, I'll have to beg to disagree.

[Wirestone]

Dada -- have you heard the album? Then you don't have the standing to say. Not yet.

[Mr. Cohen]

No, you're right. I'm sure this album will be great. I suppose it depends on how you want to evaluate things. If we're going only by entire albums, then yes, I'm sure it will be his best since Pet Sounds. Aside from Friends, maybe Brian Wilson '88, and BWPS we haven't had many elaborately produced works  from Brian Wilson (yes, 88 had a lot of cheesy effects, but the production was elaborate). Sunflower and other albums like that were only partially completed by Brian, and while I love, love, love Smiley Smile and Love You (and I like Wild Honey), I could see how the production values on those albums would limit their mainstream appeal when pitted against Pet Sounds. So, if we're going by the overall package, it doesn't have that much competition. Still, personally, though, I find Friends to be stiff competition, but I sense I'm in a minority. That's not a slight towards the potential of the Gerswhin album, which I'm sure is great (I love "The Like in I Love You"), but praise for Friends.

But I don't why I'm even bothering to go on about this. It's not important. I'm just arguing a point for the sake of it. What's important is that we have more good music to listen to.

[Wirestone]

Not that I disagree with the overall point, Dada -- there are many classic tracks post-Pet Sounds.

But I also know that AGD does not blow smoke. If he even considers saying such a thing -- if he's on the BW hype train -- well, odds are something special is on the way.

[Emdeeh]

"Best thing since Pet Sounds" also bears different weight depending on where you feel PS fits into the overall BB/BW canon. Personally, I'd rank quite a few BB albums higher than PS, most especially Wild Honey, so that means a new album might well fall into the middle ground when I compare it to PS. Your mileage may vary and probably will.

As for BWRG, I'm looking forward to hearing the a capella "Rhapsody in Blue." That little clip in the promo film really sounds tantalizing.

[Jon Stebbins]

I've only heard partials other than the The Like In I Love You...I've also heard inside reports from the sessions themselves....so my perspective is limited to that, well, that and what I already knew prior to 2010...but what stood out in David Beard's review to me is the term "Career Defining". I remember BW88 being touted as "as good as Pet Sounds "by a few very known BB's historians, it wasn't, I also recall BWPS and TLOS getting over-the-top superlatives early on...and then time settles them into their actual place, which is good, some would say great for BWPS, and others would say its a facsimile of the BB's Smile and cool, happy he did it... but not great...not as good as the '66/'67 stuff it was lifted (or er "finished") from. I like The Like In I Love You, and I've listened to it many times...the arrangement is very good...but my immediate feeling was that it was so slick, so polished, almost bead blasted into a form that left it with little classic BW style humanity ...there is certainly no edge, nothing remotely uncomfortable or odd...and to me the best Brian stuff always has something unsettling, unexpected... or gnawingly human in it. There's an unexplainable texture missing for me. Maybe that's elsewhere on this record. I'm usually skeptical anyway, and I haven't heard that much of the total...I have an incomplete picture to reflect upon. BUT I'm fascinated that others whom I respect are so blown away by this...and, as usual, skeptical.  I'm not saying it won't be good, I'm not saying it won't be popular...and I'm not saying it won't win a Grammy. But lets be honest...sometimes a Grammy just means mainstream, acceptable and artistically mediocre. Career Defining is an unimaginably high bar to set. It literally means historians will no longer first think of Brian Wilson as the Good Vibrations guy, or the Pet Sounds guy, or the Surfin USA/Fun Fun Fun/Don't Worry Baby/I Get Around/Help Me Rhonda/California Girls guy. To say a work is Career Defining means Brian Wilson will be thought of by future historians and the general public as the Re-imagines Gershwin guy. If that prediction comes true I will be utterly stunned.

[Dove Nested Towers]

Very insightful, objective, & well-written, Jon. Anticipation mounts!

[brother john]

Brian stuff always has something unsettling, unexpected... or gnawingly human in it. There's an unexplainable texture missing for me.

Astute and beautifully put. That's exactly what I feel about everything that's been produced by Brian's current team (apart from GIOMH, which was indeed gnawingly human, just not in the right way). Its as if his work has had the magic dust replaced with shrink wrap.

[Andrew G. Doe]

and to me the best Brian stuff always has something unsettling, unexpected... or gnawingly human in it.

'Xactly.  

Career Defining is an unimaginably high bar to set. It literally means historians will no longer first think of Brian Wilson as the Good Vibrations guy, or the Pet Sounds guy, or the Surfin USA/Fun Fun Fun/Don't Worry Baby/I Get Around/Help Me Rhonda/California Girls guy. To say a work is Career Defining means Brian Wilson will be thought of by future historians and the general public as the Re-imagines Gershwin guy. If that prediction comes true I will be utterly stunned.

Brian will always be the "Surfin USA/Fun Fun Fun/Don't Worry Baby/I Get Around/Help Me Rhonda/California Girls guy" - God himself couldn't change that perception. But... I think this release will go a long way towards expanding that perception, and it is without question his best solo work (I don't include BWPS as that's a BB project he elected to finish without them some short time after the initial attempt). TLOS astonished me - BWRG just knocks me flat on my ass.

[ESQ Editor]

The listening experience takes you to another place… Brian's childhood, Pet Sounds, SMiLE, 15 Big Ones/Love You and jazz & blues.  BWRG is an art record of the very best kind.

Career-defining? Yes! Brian has taken his Beach Boys history and molded it into something uniquely his own.

Andrew… Well put! Flat on my ass is a great way to put it!

[Paulos]

and to me the best Brian stuff always has something unsettling, unexpected... or gnawingly human in it.

'Xactly.  

Career Defining is an unimaginably high bar to set. It literally means historians will no longer first think of Brian Wilson as the Good Vibrations guy, or the Pet Sounds guy, or the Surfin USA/Fun Fun Fun/Don't Worry Baby/I Get Around/Help Me Rhonda/California Girls guy. To say a work is Career Defining means Brian Wilson will be thought of by future historians and the general public as the Re-imagines Gershwin guy. If that prediction comes true I will be utterly stunned.

Brian will always be the "Surfin USA/Fun Fun Fun/Don't Worry Baby/I Get Around/Help Me Rhonda/California Girls guy" - God himself couldn't change that perception. But... I think this release will go a long way towards expanding that perception, and it is without question his best solo work (I don't include BWPS as that's a BB project he elected to finish without them some short time after the initial attempt). TLOS astonished me - BWRG just knocks me flat on my ass.

Ok, I was looking forward to BWRG but wasn't too excited but after two glowing reviews from two hugely respected members of the Beach Boys fan community my interest has piqued considerably, bring on August 17th!

BTW, I should just be able to wander into my local HMV (UK) and buy this on the day right?

[drbeachboy]

Actually, I think all of Brian's solo work is too slick, especially production-wise. Even his live shows are too slick and clean. They lack energy and excitement because of it too. The only shows that benefited from that slickness was Smile. Especially, those first shows in London, because it was a new performance (not including Beach Boys boots) of legendary music.

[Peter Reum]

On first blush, over the phone from Dave B., Brian's new cd, is a masterful blend of the best of Gershwin and BW musical styles. If you know Brian, this album will move you deeply. If you love Gershwin, you will delight in a new and fresh look at several Gershwin tunes that are topflight in the Gershwin Songbook. Brian's vocals are emotionally evocative of the music and the attraction it has held for him through the years. I sent Brian a tape of Rhapsody in Blue by Stanley Black and the London Festival Orchestra that he told me saved his life in 1982 or 83. The details are in Light the Lamp. The point is--that when I hear Brian sing Someone to Watch Over Me, I hear Still I Dream of It. I hear him tapping into that vein of loneliness that he has been dealing with for so many years. It is as if the song he feels was written for him. The Drive-In approach to I Got Rhythm  is perfect...it sounds like it was written to be arranged that way. This is not a cd to miss or take lightly. It is the equivalent of a Stardust album in the career of Willie Nelson. It negates nothing previously achieved, it simply builds on what has gone before in the lives of Brian Wilson, and George and Ira Gershwin. You hear the whole  cd and then breathe normally again.