Am I the only one who finds Student Demonstration Time cringeworthy?

Why is there no stereo mix of the Wild Honey album? Why was it left out of the recent stereo reissues?

I agree with letting her be, in the grand scheme things it's pretty irrelevant really. That said I remember having an argument with her online many years ago, I don't even remember the board now but it must have been 15+ years. I guess she hasn't changed.

I've been a Smile fanatic/tragic half my life now. I remember grabbing the first recording of BWPS live off the net and hearing it for the first time and the sequence blowing my mind. How some of the smaller fragments were tied into songs still give me chills. That said I find the album version of BWPS far too "happy", I much prefer the darkness of the original sessions. The new fans don't know how lucky they are, I spent years looking for pieces here and there.

I honestly never thought we'd get an official release but boy am I happy we did. I've made my own versions that follow a more traditional two side vinyl release over the years and now have a final version I love and listen to regularly. I can't get enough of Smile.

Event Cinemas Australia is showing a release date of 25/6

Wow I expected we'd have to wait a few months. Nice!

Funny AND terrible.

Love and Mercy soundtrack?

Anyone else keep watching that clip again and again? I need to stop but the more I view it the more insanely good it looks and the details you start to notice are freakin' incredible.

I sure am. Cusack's voice in the diner/restaurant scene with Melinda is uncanny.

I'm almost certain this will be out on dvd/bluray in the US before it gets to cinemas in Australia.

Just watched the new trailer twice. f*** me.

I mentioned the Tell Me Why having a few melody lines similar to Kokomo. Also (and I don't know why I'm sticking my balls in the meat grinder for saying this) Right Time features a fair bit of Robo Al in the verses. Not that I care as such, Right Time is one of the songs I really like off NPP, but you want examples of 'tuna or other pitch correction.

Which part?

Kinda funny but mostly sad,
Kinda good but moslty bad,
I really miss that thing we had

Looking out to sea,
We'll perfect our chemistry
By and by we'll defy

It's small but it's there. You can easily sing one over the top of the other.

You have to be joking

Very different melodies.

I’ve listened through the 16-track Deluxe version several times now, in a variety of contexts, and I’ve tried to come to terms with my thoughts and opinions on NPP.  Unfortunately, they are not nearly as positive as the prevailing sentiment around these parts.

I just can’t get into this album for the most part, apart from a song here and there.  A lot of it is the production; the terms “adult contemporary” and “70s soft rock” have been thrown around a lot in descriptions of NPP’s sound, in both positive and negative reviews, and unfortunately, those are two of my most-loathed genres, so I’m already facing an uphill battle.  I just do. not. like. the (IMHO) super-slick, saccharin, oft-cheesy, glossy sheen that Joe Thomas brings to the proceedings.  It’s significantly toned-down from “Imagination,” thankfully (that album is down at the bottom of the barrel for me in Brian’s solo catalogue), but it still grates on me.  (This is also one reason why TWGMTR didn’t resonate with me all that much, and yes, I realize I’m probably in the minority on that one.)

Please note that I’m NOT complaining or talking about any there-or-not presence of pitch correction on vocals.  There may be some here and there, or there may not, but whatever - that’s not my issue with the album’s sound at all.

I’m surprised by how non-memorable I find a lot of the songs.  Songs like “Tell Me Why” are pleasant-sounding under all the gloss, but also don’t stick in my head at all - I’ve forgotten them when they’re over.  Pleasant but bland.  “The Right Time” is more memorable, and Al sounds legitimately GREAT, but the soft rock instrumental production grates at me (especially those ‘70s light-rock guitar riffs, a guitar tone that always makes my skin crawl - not a knock at David Marks as a guitarist, I just don’t like the guitar tone used on this album at all).  “Sail Away,” despite the SJB-quoting flutes, is also more memorable, and transcends the production a bit (and it’s great having Blondie, Al, and Brian on a song together).  “Whatever Happened” is also a nice, solid song.  “The Last Song” I don’t enjoy much - it feels like it’s trying too hard, somehow (and again, that production doesn’t work well with my tastes), and doesn’t hit me nearly as sharply as, say, “Midnight’s Another Day,” which I feel is one of Brian’s career peaks, solo or otherwise.

The outside artist collaborations veer wildly around the quality spectrum, ranging from (again, all in my humble opinion) utter train wrecks (“Runaway Dancer,” “Our Special Love”) to bland-but-inoffensive (“Half Moon Bay”) to catchy-enough-but-utterly-generic (“Saturday Night” - I never liked Fun.’s music, and I’m not big on Nate Ruess’s voice - and "Guess You Had To Be There," and while I don't necessarily think it's pitch correction, there is *some* kind of vocal processing on Musgraves that I find very distracting and weird-sounding) to pretty fun and solid (“On The Island” - it sounds *nothing* like a Brian Wilson song, rather sounding like a 100% She & Him tune that Brian happens to do some backing vocals on, but I’m OK with She & Him, it works for what it is, and I dig the bossa nova lounge music vibe, and I think the production works pretty well here).  Apart from occasional spins of that last song, I’ll never listen to any of these again.

I want to say I have no “agenda” or whatever - I genuinely love Brian’s music, and it’s had a massive impact on me over the years.  Brian's music is in part why I write and perform music now.  I just do not jibe with this album at all, just as I didn’t jell with “Imagination” or GIOMH, or some examples from the BBs catalogue.  Several of the songs, if they were given a more organic/less soft rock or AC production, would probably strike me a *lot* better, but as it is, I’ll probably not be revisiting the vast majority of this album in the future.  I love BWPS, I love TLOS (apart from the spoken word and a song or two), I love (most of) BW88 (like “Love You,” I can roll with the crazy production as it completely commits to it, and there are just so many wonderful tunes), but NPP doesn’t do it for me.

Your mileage, of course, may vary.  If you like NPP, that's great - just, for me, personally, this one is a misfire.

This pretty much sums up how I feel too, though I don't mind a 70s sound soft rock sound, this is far more modern adult contemporary sounding. I have NO idea why Brian's team think this is the sound to go for rather than a more hip, vintage sound.

Most if not all of the tracks are on Brian's official Youtube channel now too.

I understand this is a piece on Brian Wilson but I bristle at anyone genuflecting towards Landy.  Brian is a gentleman who wouldn't deride anyone publicly but the stuff about Landy serving his purpose by putting him on a diet?  The immediate thought that comes to mind is that dieticians can do the same thing without the Ft. Knox type lockdown.  From everything I've read and granted I haven't read reviews from all of his celebrity clients but Landy really never seemed to help anyone in the end.

In the end no, but Landy did probably save Brian's life. Brian was in very very bad shape and needed a lot of help, Landy provided that. Sadly it went on far too long and got far too complicated.

It's a nice curio but I find it odd it was added as a bonus track to the new album and not put on MIC. I don't feel it paints Brian in a very good light, the new lyrics seem to be sung off the top of his head and he sounds very "out of mind" during the whole thing. Fascinating nonetheless.

I like Sail Away, Guess You Had To Be There and On The Island but overall don't think the songwriting is very good and it's again too soft rock/easy listening for my taste. I don't know, I really want to like it but it's just not doing it for me right now. I need to give it a good spin on headphones over the weekend.

She & Him are one of my favourite new groups. Not many artists make records like theirs these days, super 60s sounding with great arrangements and production.

I was really excited to hear Lana sing on a Brian track, such a bummer it didn't happen but at least She & Him did.

They could just mix the Paley songs and release them. Album done.

Best sounding track so far.

Nice little song, like the string arrangements. I'd never think it was about the BB if I'd not read about it. Seems more a love/life song in general.

Just had this nightmarish vision of Joe Thomas being in charge of overseeing Brian's archive releases when he's no longer around himself.

Glitter EVERYWHERE!

It still saddens me that Brian didn't sign up with an indie label in the mid-90s, back when Sub Pop was issuing promo singles for the PS box and he was at the height of his hipster cred. He could have issued however many albums he wanted, collaborating with anybody, doing whatever he liked.

I'm reasonably sure the option was presented to him. But he just chose not to.

At the very least some of the Paley stuff could've come out at the time.

I'm still praying they get an official release.

Joe Thomas is good enough for Brian and yet he's not good enough for some of the people on this board. Troubling.

If Brian never records with anyone other than Joe, then so be it. I have absolutely no issues with JT or Brian's decision to choose him. Time for all the "experts in production" here to either accept that or move on to some other artist to criticize. I'd rather support Brian and his team instead of hearing people bitch about this, that or the other thing. NPP is going to be another victory for Team Brian so be somewhat thankful that Mike Love didn't worm his way into this project because then, we'd all have something to scream about.

Firstly let me say I am very happy Brian is still making music but lets be frank here. This is Brian Wilson we are talking about, one of the greatest producers ever. I honestly don't understand how so many of Brian's fans can be OK with how Joe's stuff sounds. If this album sounded anywhere near as good as TLOS I'd be more than happy, but it doesn't. It's glossy, sparkly and sickly sweet to my ears.

Sorry.

I cringe every time I read Joe Thomas' name in reference to this album.