Perhaps it's just coincidence, but the bridge that goes "Oh let me take you there / to another land / don't expect the world / to understand" is very reminiscent of the Kirsty MacColl/Tracey Ullman song "They Don't Know".

https://youtu.be/_BilUu5Ip7s

I really enjoy the song. There are a lot of false stops at the end. Each part is nice, but some feel kind of tacked on.

The big surprise for me is how darn good Nate Reuss is. The tracks I've heard from his band FUN are boring and bland as all get out, but he really shines here. I kind of wish he'd quit his band and just join Brian full time. Man, he's got chops.

As for Zooey...well, I wouldn't go so far as to compare her to Astrud Gilberto. Zooey has a more nasal tone than Astrud to these ears, but it doesn't take away from the song.

I still haven't warmed to "Runaway Dancer", though I think the live version has more going for it the studio version.   

His band The Format was a lot more interesting. "Dog Problems" is a great song.

Initially, all I could hear was was "Lay Down Burden" in "Right Time", but after enough listens it's its own song. There's definitely a similarity, though.

The Beach Boys: Sept. 17, 1994 at the Puyallup Fair in Puyallup, WA
Brian Wilson: July 18, 2000 at the Fleet Pavillion in Boston, MA
M + B: July 25, 2009 at the Hatch Shell in Boston, MA

Audience/IEM audio mixes on these recent Youtube videos:

Santa's Beard - Little St. Nick https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iM3BoEM-_0

California Girls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT9pjAtjKf4

Sloop/WIBN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB-bpsZyWa0

This is a fantastic sounding band, and I think it starts with Mike's vocals, which seem really on point here. Christmas songs sound great.

I have no dog in the fight between Brian vs. Mike -- I like The Beach Boys as a whole -- but until Brian's band fixes the "Mickey Mouse with a sore throat" falsetto tag on California Girls, then I'll contend that Mike's band has the better vocals and Brian's the better instrumentals. And I'll go see either one when they come to town.

Really enjoying the YouTube stuff, especially Al on Wouldn't It Be Nice, and Nate Reuss on all his leads, but who's doing that horrendous falsetto tag on California Girls?

Mickey Mouse with a sore throat?

Nate Reuss fuckin' killed "Hold On, Dear Brother".
Killed it dead.
Fucking dead.
Holy sh*t.

One of my favorite songs and favorite singers. Can't wait to hear this.

It's not drivel, it's the truth about a sad and insecure man you carry water for to keep him as a source.

I have no idea how you can listen to Beach Boys songs given how much hatred you have for Mike. Do you cringe every time you hear his voice?

Who agrees that holland was the last true BB album? Love you being brians album with the BB name on it,,,miu, light album and keepin the summer alive were made up from mixed sessions from previous yrs..

Your use of commas infuriates me and makes no sense.

And I have no idea what a "true BB album" is. It seems like, based on your vague criteria, 15 Big Ones is a "true BB album."

"Summer Dreams" was based on Steven Gaines' "Heroes and Villains" biography, while John Stamos received an executive producer credit on "An American Family," which led to the tone of the movie being dictated more towards Mike than Brian.

I haven't seen "Summer Dreams" since I was a child, but I remember it being Dennis-heavy.

[Apparently Frank's original verse was a rap about homosexual sex on the beach so I don't think it would have fit well on the song anyways.]

Ron and Frank Ocean are interesting topics indeed. Regarding the song in question, I guess we have to get used to this hyper-processed Brian sound. That the vocal conveys sweetness and feeling notwithstanding the layers of effects is a merit of the singer. I like the song. It's not Brian-by-the-numbers as a poster said before, but a fresh-sounding recording that still nods at the classic Beach Boys harmonies, good melody, hooks... A couple observations: the pre-chorus sounds indentical to Spring Vacation (not that there's anything wrong with it), the sections during which Holland sings prominently sound pretty generic in every way, compared to the rest of the song; there's a boy-group quality to some of it that stylistically owes nothing to any previous BW product and -again- sounds like generic patchwork. And not BW stock patchwork (a Shortenin' Bread riff or a "rockin' and rollin'" vocal for instance) but something from a different hand and sensibility. Now, if the alternative is the Pet Sounds production cliches of recent albums (clip-clops, sleighbells, etc.), I'd rather have this for a change.

There's definately something to be said for that... I'm a bit bored with the clip clops as well, so it's good to see something different. 

Apparently Frank's original verse was a rap about homosexual sex on the beach so I don't think it would have fit well on the song anyways. 

Are you trying to be funny? I....I really have no fucking clue what this is about?

Ron thought that Frank Ocean was a "stereotypical" rapper because he didn't understand his lyrics, so now Ron's making jokes about Ocean's sexuality + the lyrics he didn't understand.

The lyrics in question are "f*** me good, f*** me long, f*** me numb".  That I didn't understand he was talking about a guy fucking him I don't think is really germane to the conversation, my point REMAINS that the guy isn't really a fit for a Brian Wilson song. 


I said he's pretty stereotypical.  Apparently he's not, because when he raps about sex in a vulgar way, it's interesting and new because it's homosexual sex he's rapping about.

Idiocy. 

Still not understanding his lyrics.

It's not about being gay. It's a comment on how emotionally numb the rap culture has become.

He's on your side.

Idiot.

[Apparently Frank's original verse was a rap about homosexual sex on the beach so I don't think it would have fit well on the song anyways.]

Ron and Frank Ocean are interesting topics indeed. Regarding the song in question, I guess we have to get used to this hyper-processed Brian sound. That the vocal conveys sweetness and feeling notwithstanding the layers of effects is a merit of the singer. I like the song. It's not Brian-by-the-numbers as a poster said before, but a fresh-sounding recording that still nods at the classic Beach Boys harmonies, good melody, hooks... A couple observations: the pre-chorus sounds indentical to Spring Vacation (not that there's anything wrong with it), the sections during which Holland sings prominently sound pretty generic in every way, compared to the rest of the song; there's a boy-group quality to some of it that stylistically owes nothing to any previous BW product and -again- sounds like generic patchwork. And not BW stock patchwork (a Shortenin' Bread riff or a "rockin' and rollin'" vocal for instance) but something from a different hand and sensibility. Now, if the alternative is the Pet Sounds production cliches of recent albums (clip-clops, sleighbells, etc.), I'd rather have this for a change.

There's definately something to be said for that... I'm a bit bored with the clip clops as well, so it's good to see something different. 

Apparently Frank's original verse was a rap about homosexual sex on the beach so I don't think it would have fit well on the song anyways. 

Are you trying to be funny? I....I really have no fucking clue what this is about?

Ron thought that Frank Ocean was a "stereotypical" rapper because he didn't understand his lyrics, so now Ron's making jokes about Ocean's sexuality + the lyrics he didn't understand.

Oh no. I was one year off. Whatever will I do!

Uh........next time take my word for it.  I told you what it was but you decided to play guessing games instead.

Didn't see your post. Sorry. No need to get so offended.

Oh no. I was one year off. Whatever will I do!

It has to be easier for this board to date the Michael Love/Jackson photo based on Mr. Positivity rather than the Prince of Pop....

Highly doubt that. MJ went through many more changes than Mike did over those six or seven years.

This picture seems to have been taken around the same year, but not at the same party.

I don't think so. MJ looks much less "natural" in that picture with Mike. Based on this photo gallery (http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-010907michaeljackson-flip-photogallery.html), I'd say the picture with Brian is from 1988 or 1989, and the one with Mike is from 1995 or 1996.

here's a sample of some of Frank's actual rapping skills, from "Blue Whale".  

"And if I ever have a daughter
I wonder what I could call her?
Nine months after I f*** on the beach
I guess I call her Karma"

He's so.... so.... so stereotypical.  

Or, here, this is a really brilliant line from his song "Novacane"

"Sink full of dishes pacing in the kitchen, cocaine for breakfast, yikes
Bed full of women, flip on a tripod, little red light on shooting
I'm feeling like Stanley Kubrick, this is some visionary sh*t"

or the hook is particularly inspiring.

"Novacane, baby, baby, Novacane, baby, I want you
f*** me good, f*** me long, f*** me numb
Love me now, when I'm gone, love me none
Love me none, love me none, numb, numb, numb, numb"


I can see why you guys think he's so different than all the steretypical rappers.  He's a little worse.  

It is pretty hilarious that you select Novacane as an example of his lack of ability or fitting to your really quite embarrassing idea of what rappers are. Novacane is unequivocally one of the great songs of the last decade, particularly for R&B. It is unsurprising that you can't understand the context or environment in which the song takes place, seeing as you still have an image of mentally impaired 40 drinkin Boyz in the Hood left over from when you no doubt last spent some mental energy on the genre.

It is a song first about an emotionally numbed and artificial environment, particularly referencing the genre and culture which informs it. You might have missed for instance the fourth line:  

"Every single record auto-tuning, zero emotion, muted emotion.
Pitch-corrected, computed emotion."

The song is an attempt to express desperation, isolation and a deep emotional feeling that is constantly being diverted by sex without love or care, and numbed by medication and drugs. It is also in a genre sense about how R&B and Rap got stuck in a certain artistically dull and thoughtless way. The song is, from its performance to the production to the amazing hook a supremely emotional and complex work about the need to be numb; artistically, personally and culturally. I am sure I won't have to explain that swearing or coarse subject matter says nothing at all against a work's complexity or as you are implying the artist's intelligence. Your criticism is about on the level of pointing at a nude work and saying "That Michelangelo made trash!" More palatable people like Lou Reed spent much of his career addressing these issues, just in a different genre.  

And as for this:


"And if I ever have a daughter
I wonder what I could call her?
Nine months after I f*** on the beach
I guess I call her Karma"

Eh seems a pretty clever knock at cause and effect and how living only for momentary pleasure is not a great way to go about things.

How untypical a "rapper" he is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNBD4OFF8cc

A gay guy singing a beautiful song about the first time he fell in love with a man.

Fantastic post.

It's OK but really not my style of music overall. The whole thing sounds a bit forced and slick and I agree about it sounding a bit like a 90s boyband production.

That's a fairly strange comparison, since the Beach Boys themselves kind of originated the boy band sound.  Saying it sounds like a 90's Boyband is like saying it sounds like the Beach Boys. 

So, the Backstreet Boys and Nsync sounded like The Beach Boys? I personally beg to differ.

Brian on Cali Girls. Pretty average IMO.

http://youtu.be/rTFOr8V4qvE

I'd say average is being generous.

The falsetto at the end sounds like Mike's impression of Brian in Cassius vs. Sonny.

[personally]

Well he is a part of an organization that charges 2500 dollars for basic stress relief concepts. Plus gives out the same mantras to thousands of people. TM is a cult that nearly derailed the BBs in the 1970s, funny how "crazy" BW doesnt follow it.

Mike practises TM, he's not part of the controlling organisation. Yes, like pretty much every organised religion, there's an element of soaking and misleading the adherents but... supposing I was a practising Roman Catholic (I'm not, but for the purposes of illustration...): would that make me answerable for the decades of sexual abuse inflicted by RC priests on the children in their spiritual care ? By your logic yes: I practise the religion, ergo I am responsible. To return to my original question: your source for Mike personally chatging the amounts you've stated here, please.

BTW, I think you'll find it was 1968 when TM adversely affected the band's financial position... and if we're going to apportion blame fairly, it was Dennis who first persuaded the others to meet with Maharishi. 

Is Mike definitely not part of the controlling organization? He certainly likes to promote it in every single concert/interview.

Sounds like a mid-90s R&B song (think Az Yet), but I think the auto-tune works because of the production. I think it's awesome that Brian's branching out to a more modern style without it sounding corny or forced.

Really like the song.

Brian might just be trying out a few new vocal licks and keeping sharp on his performing skills for upcoming higher profile appearances.   Not a time to get rusty.  Just seems to make sense.

I intentionally omitted the exact nature of the show last night, just to see what might happen (and to see if anyone remembered). It was a charity fundraising event for the Dreamcatcher Foundation, announced back in mid-September. Brian wasn't the only performer, and it sold out (at CAN$350 a pop !).

Setlist:

California Girls
Dance, Dance, Dance
Catch A Wave
Shut Down
Little Deuce Coupe
Girl Don't Tell Me
In My Room
Surfer Girl
Help Me Rhonda
Darlin'
Do You Wanna Dance
Don't Worry Baby
Do It Again
Sail On Sailor
Wouldn't It Be Nice
Sloop John B
God Only Knows
Good Vibrations
I Get Around
Barbara Ann
Surfin' USA
Fun, Fun, Fun

Nelson subbed for Mikey on drums.

Not trying to stir up crap, but has Mikey played with Brian since he sat in with M+B?

Mike was one sick egomaniac from Kokomo on. Really thinks he is the whole BBs brand and Carl/Al weren't important anymore. I think Carl's death delayed something really important that happened during the C50, Brian righting the BBs unit and legacy.

I used to think you were a parody account, but you really believe this stuff, don't you?

I had never heard the US versions until today. I don't particularly like either version of Island Fever, but I might like the US version more. Both are so repetitive.

The US version of Summer In Paradise is a bit more sterile, but I like the harmonies during the verses.

Pretty sure I was told by somebody (it may have been Bobby F. himself) that Bobby F. was doing a lot of the falsetto at this gig.

The falsetto isn't all that strong or projected a lot of the time, so I suspect this is the case.  He's really the only candidate on tunes like "I Get Around."

That makes sense. It's definitely not overly prominent in the mix, but it sounds good.

Surprisingly limited backing back in this period. It was just Meros, Figueroa and Carter, right?

Carl sounds good on those guitar leads, and it was funny to see Bruce playing keyboards with a bass around his neck late in the set. He went from playing two instruments in one song during that era to zero today.