The Smiley Smile Message Board

Anybody checked out Brian's cover of "The Christmas Song" from brianwilson.com?

Honestly...not on of his better covers. The double-tracking on his lead sounds off to me. The voice itself sounds good, but something about the whole recording seems off. I think it's the tempo that's throwing me off.

The percussion sounds like it's from a different song...I don't know how much I like it....but really, Brian is so good to fans around Christmas time, he's always presented something to else for the past years.

Yeah, I'm thinking the percussion has a lot to do with it.

It sounds... very odd. Too busy.

Beautiful.

l like it oddly enough

It wouldn't be Christmas without a critique of Brian's 'gift'  would it? ::)

Actually, it wouldn't be the SmileySmile Message board if we didn't critisize it. I mean, we're not the Blueboard here, we don't worship the newspaper BW craps on....  :lol

I would suspect these Christmas songs are thrown together pretty quickly by whoever is in town with a few hours to spare...and it shows!

But who cares?

I think a concert or product you pay for is fair game. Anything else, enjoy it for what it is. ;)

Lead vocal sounds 'slurry' but, hey, thanks Brian!  Enjoyable.

It's a middle-of-the-road Christmas tune for Brian. Nothing great but not bad and has a decent homely feeling. As AGD said, too busy. Vocal is good but not great. Honestly he sounds more excited on the spoken intro than on the song...

It sounds really good. I don't see what the problem is with the percussion. Thanks Bri!

I think BW's version of The Christmas Song sounds fabulous.  Great instrumental intro, patterned after Wouldn't It Be Nice.  Yeah, the percussion, done by Brian, combined with Darian's vibraphone, gives the song a 'swimmy-watery' sound, but I like the effect.  

I have a HUGE preference for Brian's mellow style lead vocal on this track, as opposed to his shouting style lead found on much of his recent work, including most all of the "All I Really Want for Christmas" album.  Plus, the double tracking helps to soften BW's lead vocal.  I especially like the background vocals, all of which are done by Brian.  

I've had this song streaming continually from BW's website for the past hour, and I'm totally enjoying it.

I'm not familiar with this Christmas standard, I guess there must be a few better renditions out there. That said, it's a good song, a nice track, the lead vocals are ok and the piano riff - performed by Brian - in the intro may be nothing new, but it gave me a smile.

The most famous version is the one by Nat King Cole, which is my 2nd favorite Christmas song ever recorded (very slightly behind "Merry Christmas Darling" by the Carpenters).

I kinda liked it...nothing mindblowing by any means, but Brian sings it well.  His backgrounds sounded decent too. 

Delaney's "Hi" sounds a lot like her cousin Jonah's "Hi" at the beginning of The Trader.

Nice background vocals, nice lead vocal, a busy production but I like it.


Great stuff.  Thanks Brian!  That's really all I can say.

Is it just me or is this where part of the melody of Just Like Me And You probably came from?

Anyway, it's a nice enough Christmas tune, which in terms of overall style reminds me a lot more of Al's Big Sur Christmas than of BW's very own holidays album.

Very pleasant and seemingly heartfelt....yet unlikely to be heard on the radio often.

Lots of elements of the BW sound circa 1966-70 give it a familiarity.

Wonder if there is an outake with the lyrics kids in the 60s sang:
"Chipmunks roasting on an open fire.....etc."

I think it's fantastic, better than anything on WIRWFC.

What a nice gift from Brian.

It's not that bad. Nice thing to put out for the fans.

..

I really like it. But then, I liked Mike' s thing last Xmas (is that still available somewhere?). Aren't Xmas records supposed to be crammed full of sleigh bells and cheesy harmonies? I shall put this on Xmas morning.

Fixed.

I haven't quite liked this song for as long as I know the song (yes, it's that old), but this is a cover I can live with.

I don't think Brian has been given enough credit recently for his inventive arrangements of the various standards he's been covering over the past few years. When I first saw this thread I imagined what his take on "The Christmas Song" would be like, but Brian confounded those expectations in a very good way. That weird "happy/sad" opening was a big surprise and the counterpoint backing vocals near the end really helped take the track to a higher level. This is light years beyond his "Silent Night" and "Christmas Day" song-gifts from earlier this decade...and further proof that he should not be subservient to someone like David Foster if Bruce's reunion pipe dream comes to fruition!

You mean Santa's Goin' To Kokomo? Liked that one as well... somehow... It's still available at youtube. Have to say that Mike's singing still sounds very good to these ears and that I'd love to hear a bit more from him. Give me an album full of songs like Cool Head Warm Heart and I'd be happy. Not TLOS-happy, but still kind of happy anyway. After all, these guys won't be around forever...

Sounds good . . . I like Darian's vibe parts.

I have to admit it's starting to grow on me. Honestly, I hated it when I first heard it. Now, I can say it's not bad at all, although I really prefer the original and am not too crazy about the arrangement.

haha, same, it's really growing on me.

Played it about 20 times yesterday.

What do you consider the "original"? This is a Christmas standard, tons of people have done it.

Ahh, the Nat King Cole version, of course. I love that song. Brian was 4 years old when it  originally came out, although the famous version of it (and the one I'm talking about) was a version that Cole remade in 1961, which was the year the Beach Boys debuted, coincidentally enough.

I can't stop listening to that intro, it'd be fantastic to hear on my oldies radio station; i heard them use the 'Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, I'll be seeing you in 88'