Brian Reimagines Gershwin

[Myk Luhv]

Just because fleecing music fans is the dominant practice of the music industry does not mean you're not allowed to complain about it (at least). It is stupid to rarefy and fetishise music -- exclusive bonus tracks, limited-edition 7" pressings, and what-have-you -- and you'd think with the advent of online music distribution the industry would learn something, but apparently not! I realise Brian is not suddenly going to go all Trent Reznor about it and release things exclusively online or anything, but it's still annoying to have to deal with it as not only a music lover but as a consumer too.

[Ron]

Just buy the damn album.  If there's extra songs floating around, download them like everybody else does.  No big deal.  This has been like this since they released 45's as singles, no big deal and completely unavoidable if that's what the record company wants to do.  

[drbeachboy]

The issue is that you cannot get the bonus track unless you buy and download the whole album. I bought TLOS three times; 2 CDs, one download, in order to get all of the bonus tracks. It is a bit of a rip-off, but I guess if I'm gonna piss my money away, it might as well be to make Brian and his record company rich.

[jeffcdo]

Same here, bought TLOS three times.  45 singles didn't require you to repurchase the entire album for the B-side.   Same with CD singles for the relatively brief period of time when they existed. 

[Ron]

Hmm... I still don't get it.  Buy the album, then illegally download the rest of the songs.  How hard is that to figure out!

By the way, I am SUPER PISSED at Brian for recording so much in the last 10 Years.  When I bought the Roxy CD, I thought that was it, then here his greedy ass comes with more music every year. 

[jeffcdo]

By the way, I am SUPER PISSED at Brian for recording so much in the last 10 Years.  When I bought the Roxy CD, I thought that was it, then here his greedy ass comes with more music every year. 

Now you're just being a jerk, Ron.

[drbeachboy]

@Ron

I'm sure Brian really appreciates that you download his commercial output illegally. Wow, great way to show your artist support.

[BJL]

@Ron

I'm sure Brian really appreciates that you download his commercial output illegally. Wow, great way to show your artist support.

I'm with Ron on this one.  When you buy a record, then illegally download the bonus track which was provided with the digital copy of the album as a retail tie-in or whatever...I don't think there's anything unethical about that...and Brian's people admit as much by offering said songs for free online as soon as the exclusive contract is up!  It's meant to promote itunes and build buzz, not make dedicated fans by the same album twice!

[drbeachboy]

You can believe whatever you like. If that is how you justify downloading illegal music, then more power to you. What Brian does is legal. I'm sure posting songs on the website is within the legal rights of the agreement. If Brian releases new music, I buy it and support the endeavor. Brian has been a millionaire for all of his adult life. I don't think that he'd make a good pauper. ;-)

[drbeachboy]

Did Brian offer up the bonus tracks on his website from the Best Buy version of TLOS? The Japanese bonus tracks from Live At The Roxy? the instrumental bonus tracks from BWPS? I don't go there a whole lot, so I don't recall ever seeing them there for free download.

[mikeyj]

Er, right. I did leave out the Christmas album on my tally.

It did, however, have a special bonus spoken-word message on the UK single, right?

Well, my copy of the Christmas album has three bonus tracks - the tracks that were from Brian's site: "On Christmas Day", "Joy to the World", "Silent Night"

[Wirestone]

The bonus tracks were on every copy of the Christmas album, though, so they didn't require anyone to purchase anything extra.

[mikeyj]

The bonus tracks were on every copy of the Christmas album, though, so they didn't require anyone to purchase anything extra.

Thanks - I didn't know that

[Andrew G. Doe]

This latest bonus track idea doesn't work on two levels:

1 - Brian designed the album to be bookended by "Rhapsody"...

2 - I'm led to believe that "Let's Call..." isn't all that good. I can dig that - not as if there's not enough room on the CD for it, so I'm thinking it was left off for reasons of quality control. Q, E and very likely, D.

[LostArt]

To further complicate matters, Amazon shows two CD versions of the album.  The release date for one is August 17th, and the price is $11.99.  The release date for the other is September 14th, and the price is $20.99.  There is nothing to indicate that it will be a bonus track edition, or a CD/DVD edition.  They also list the vinyl version as being released on August 24th.

[runnersdialzero]

Did Brian offer up the bonus tracks on his website from the Best Buy version of TLOS? The Japanese bonus tracks from Live At The Roxy? the instrumental bonus tracks from BWPS? I don't go there a whole lot, so I don't recall ever seeing them there for free download.

We can't all afford the 40 dollar Japanese edition or multiple copies of it, Jethro.

The law is the law, I do my best to abide by it, but it's not always right. How does paying retail price for a new copy of the album and downloading an international bonus track equate to not supporting Brian, anyway? I'm curious if he would even care.

In the age of the internet, it's a little absurd to expect otherwise. Put that sh*t online, charge a dollar or two, and I will gladly pay for it.

[drbeachboy]

All I'm saying is that, that is your justification for illegal downloading. You do want you want. My point is, to do it legally, you need to buy multiple copies of releases to get all the bonus tracks. I agree with you though, that the bonus tracks should be available for separate download.

[Ron]

This is the absolute most moronic argument I've ever read.  You do realize you're complaining that he recorded more music than you wanted him to, right?  Think about how stupid that is. 

Who ever told you, you had to own a piece of plastic with the song burned on it by the factory Brian commissioned to burn it on the piece of plastic?  This is the most idiotic argument of all time. 

If you've decided you want to own all of Brian's songs, it's not his fault.  That's YOUR decision.  Now YOU can pay for it if you need to have all of those.  I'm not going to buy 4 albums to have every song, who would?  That's just craziness.   

Buy the album.  If you want to buy another album that has a different bunch of o's and 1's burnt on it at a different place, do that too. 


PERSONALLY, just talking about me, I'm going to go to the closest store to my house that has the album, and buy it.  If I see another song floating around somewhere that isn't on that CD, I'm going to download it, and listen to it.  I'm going to put it on a USB stick, and listen to it in my car. 

That's just what's going to happen.  If that's illegal, come cuff me up.  If I don't see the extra piece of 0's and 1's floating around the net anywhere, I won't hear the song, and that'll be o.k. 

To be honest, the bonus songs usually aren't very good anyways, that's why they're not on the album. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

All I'm saying is that, that is your justification for illegal downloading. You do want you want. My point is, to do it legally, you need to buy multiple copies of releases to get all the bonus tracks.

Unless you're a hard-core collector, no you don't - you just wait until someone else has, then politely request either a CDR or a Oh hey guys, I'm being cute and testing the moderators!otential Yes yes yes, I don't know how to follow the rules!istake. Simples.

[drbeachboy]

For unrerleased stuff, sure, no problem. No other way to get it. If you can get it legally, you should, and support the artist. The real point is that they shouldn't do it at all. The truel fans are the ones that get taken. The ones who want all the official releases and such in their collections.

[hypehat]

That's all well and good, but some of us have rent to pay. I love to support Brian (and the boys) anyway I can, and am as obsessive as most here with bonus tracks and b**tlegs, but there was a snowballs chance in hell i was going to buy 4 versions of TLOS.... It's just not viable. One is all i can justify, and that goes for BWRG too.

I know i don't really need to justify myself, but i get kind of uneasy about the sentiment 'a true fan would buy the cd, the special edition CD, the DVD, iTunes download, vinyl, Best Buy special slipcase edition, Japanese import and the limited edition signed book'.... A 'true' fan also needs to eat!

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

All I'm saying is that, that is your justification for illegal downloading. You do want you want. My point is, to do it legally, you need to buy multiple copies of releases to get all the bonus tracks.

Unless you're a hard-core collector, no you don't - you just wait until someone else has, then politely request either a CDR or a Oh hey guys, I'm being cute and testing the moderators!otential Yes yes yes, I don't know how to follow the rules!istake. Simples.

[drbeachboy]

That's all well and good, but some of us have rent to pay. I love to support Brian (and the boys) anyway I can, and am as obsessive as most here with bonus tracks and b**tlegs, but there was a snowballs chance in hell i was going to buy 4 versions of TLOS.... It's just not viable. One is all i can justify, and that goes for BWRG too.

I know i don't really need to justify myself, but i get kind of uneasy about the sentiment 'a true fan would buy the cd, the special edition CD, the DVD, iTunes download, vinyl, Best Buy special slipcase edition, Japanese import and the limited edition signed book'.... A 'true' fan also needs to eat!

I'm not trying to tell anybody what to do. You do what you have to do to get what you want. My only point was that it is unfair to make people buy multiple copies if they want all the tracks legally. I did, but that's me. Believe me, I am not a person to pass judgement on such things. iTunes, record companies, other distributors and sometimes, artists make it very difficult for people to obtain music the legit way. I try to obtain released stuff legally, other stuff ....well?

[buddhahat]

Yes I have to be honest, if they choose to put bonus tracks on different releases where you have to buy the whole album again and again, then I won't feel too guilty about obtaining the bonus tracks through dubious means. If the bonus tracks were available as standalone downloads I would happily pay per track, but not if you have to buy the whole album more than once - that seems crazy.

[Wirestone]

Well, critical reception is now officially mixed. Of the reviews, about half have been cautiously positive (Freep, some of the listening party reactions), and half think it's mediocre (Mojo, and now this).

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100806/REVIEW/708059986/1008/ART

After I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’s rollicking, harmonica-chugging instrumental comes It ain’t Necessarily So – the albums’ longest track at nearly four minutes of down-tempo swing – which possibly says the most about the project, revealing Wilson’s greatest reinterpretive weakness: his difficulty in conveying the great wit of Gershwin’s work.

Wilson has said: “I chose the [songs] that I thought I could do justice to. And I tried to sing them the way I thought [Gershwin would] want me to, if he were alive.” However, much of Reimagines finds him straining for Broadway drama where his own now-fragile crooning would have been the most effective starting point. The fact that Wilson will follow this project with an album in which he reinterprets classic Disney songs even hints uncomfortably at a simple cash-in opportunity.

I'm beginning to feel like, as much as some of us may like it, the tide is turning against this album.