Brian doing Carl's "Heaven"

[Susan]

It's lovely, Mark.  When was the instrumental track recorded, and who was involved in that?

[8o8o]

Wonderful, absolutely wonderful version!

[the captain]

All the vocals were done by Brian.......... And the entire song was recorded and mixed yesterday.

Mark

That (about the vocals) is amazing. While I thought what I thought was Brian sounded good, I would've sworn some of those higher parts were doubled by another voice. That the other voices are Brian is remarkable. Great job by Brian.

And I'm thrilled at the one-off, get-it-done nature of the recording. As I've said a billion times by now, I wish every time Brian wanted to do a song, he'd do just this: assemble whomever he had around and wanted to use, get into the studio, get it done and release it online. From his mind to our computers and mp3 players in under a week. It's the perfect way to keep working without being saddled down by the weight of albums that are supposed to live up to Pet Sounds, Smile, etc.

(Of course if he feels like doing another TLOS every now and again, I won't stop him.)

[matt-zeus]

Damn good, excellent vocals, in that interview recently when he said about having voice lessons to strenghten his vocals - he was right!! its great to hear the return of his falsetto!!!

[Emdeeh]

Mark, please tell Brian that was a truly lovely tribute.

[Fun Is In]

Boy, I'm dying to hear this. When I try to listen all I get is the 10 second intro over and over and over again, plus the slide show.

Any clues for this techno-clueless fan would be appreciated.

[summerinparadise.flac]

Wow.
I typed a great big post, but I think "Wow" just about sums up everything i want to say.

[Dr. Tim]

Played this several times, then checked it against my old Carl Wilson LP.  Both versions complement each other, hard to pick one  as a "winner".

I  heard a couple tiny recording glitches, no doubt a product of the git-'r-done atmosphere.  Brian's lead vocal drops for a second, like he leaned away from the mic and they didn't go back to fix.  Also one of the falsetto harmonies was the teeniest bit "forced" in the first go round. 

While this track may have been a one-off impulsive thing, the lesson here is this kind of stunt is really the future of music.  -- And this admission is coming from a life-long vinylphile who belives in OWNING an ALBUM for my RECORD COLLECTION, not sliding a USB storage drive full of WAV's and MP3's in my shirt pocket.   Forget trying to get a "deal", be it front-end, back-end, 360, whatever.  Don't need them no more. Record something, get it out there for your fans.  Forget waiting for Clive Davis to rejigger it or begging a label run by dinosaurs to do it for you;  do it yourself.  Then when you release the product (also yourself) you get the rewards, no 80% to the middleman.  In this regard Brian is right out front with the Eagles, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and others who are going just that web-based route.  Create the demand, then watch the label guys beg you to get a piece of the back end, offering to "press it up for you" and rack job it.  Yeah, surre....

And oh yeah, lovely track.

[Rocker]

From BW Administrator: Brian's new version of Carl's "Heaven"

(posted by Administrator on December 22, 2007 at 7:40 pm)

Message:

Hello everyone: Quick note to let you know that we've updated the slideshow to include more photos of Carl and Carl with Brian, as per Brian's instructions. He also wanted the slideshow to end with the last photo you'll see here. So, I guess you could call this version the "Director's Cut"!

Thanks again, Brian, for a wonderful and very heartfelt performance.

[stauti]

@Mark : A really great version but what happened to Brian´s Lead Vocals at 3:10 ?? The "how" is gone... 
Have a great Christmas time !!  Greetings from cold Germany !
Niko

[Andrew G. Doe]

While this track may have been a one-off impulsive thing, the lesson here is this kind of stunt is really the future of music.  -- And this admission is coming from a life-long vinylphile who belives in OWNING an ALBUM for my RECORD COLLECTION, not sliding a USB storage drive full of WAV's and MP3's in my shirt pocket.   Forget trying to get a "deal", be it front-end, back-end, 360, whatever.  Don't need them no more. Record something, get it out there for your fans.  Forget waiting for Clive Davis to rejigger it or begging a label run by dinosaurs to do it for you;  do it yourself.  Then when you release the product (also yourself) you get the rewards, no 80% to the middleman.  In this regard Brian is right out front with the Eagles, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and others who are going just that web-based route.  Create the demand, then watch the label guys beg you to get a piece of the back end, offering to "press it up for you" and rack job it.  Yeah, surre.....

So obvious it hurts - problem is that Brian's management apparently retains a 'major label' mentality. Never mind that almost all of Brian's solo releases since 1988 have been on a different label each time...

[endofposts]

I think I prefer this version to Carl's.  Brians voice isn't as sweet, so it makes it more effective, to me.  Carl was so ethereal-sounding that combined with the song, it was a little much.  I also really like Brian's phrasing.  It's like he heard the old Murry saying, "Sing from the heart."  There's such a difference in Brian when he really wants to do something. 

[MBE]

Very nice work from Brian. I think his vocals from the last decade are very nice when he tries. He is once again a professional singer which from the mid 70's to mid 90's he often wasn't. Heartfelt stuff and the the slideshow is nice too. THere is a great 1970 shot used in one of the Carl Wilson Foundation programs that I wish I could see more clearly as it is covered in writing. It appears to be from Brian's personal archive. Carl doesn't have the beard yet but his hair is parted in the middle. Brian looks almost as thin as he ever did in it. Great shot of them.

[Pretty Funky]

AGD wrote...
So obvious it hurts - problem is that Brian's management apparently retains a 'major label' mentality. Never mind that almost all of Brian's solo releases since 1988 have been on a different label each time...

He doesn't need the money, put it out on the net for free! 65 years old and using modern format...what a gimmick.

[Aegir]

Even if you guys have already managed to get a copy of the song, I strongly recommend going back to the website - the new pictures are great.

[Mr. Wilson]

Yea it would be a welcome addition to any BW disk..

[Mahalo]

  .............  The song rules.

[Ron]

Wow, I think this is a testament to the fact that if Brian has something in his heart that he WANTS to do, he's still very capable of making great music.  Too often though he sounds like he's not into the recording as much as on something like this.  To record something like this in 1 day just makes me smile and think "Yeah, the old man's still got it!"

BTW, I absolutely cannot watch the slideshow.  What a horrible thing for the Admin over there to do... Men aren't supposed to cry, right?

[Ron]

Oh, and the missing note sounds to me like Brian leaning away from the Microphone... which was always cool when Ray Charles did it, so maybe Brian's going blind??   Somebody find out if he's still seeing alright. 

[Amy B.]

Oh, and the missing note sounds to me like Brian leaning away from the Microphone... which was always cool when Ray Charles did it, so maybe Brian's going blind??   Somebody find out if he's still seeing alright. 

He probably just got distracted. Funny how they didn't fix it, though. I kind of like that organic way of recording. It's like leaving the cough in in "Wendy."

[Ron]

Yeah... really, would it make the song any better to fix it? Not at all... so I say just leave it natural.  Kinda like how he recorded "Back Home" and said "That's a wrap!" after half butchering the lead vocal!