Brian Recording Pet Sounds This Weekend At Capitol

[acedecade75]

Is the rest of the album going to be released?

[Cool Cool Water]

youtube link for Sloop John B - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDZgl7H-coQ

Great voices from Brian, Al, the whole band. Good instrumentation too 

Just watched this from the official site where you had to sign up. Great stuff! Al's vox and his son Matt's harmonies are brilliant! Brian's vox are great as well!

[mikeddonn]

Brings tears to the eyes to see those guys at it...it reminds you that one of the reasons the band was so good live w/o Brian was that they had Al there. It's great to see him get so much exposure and recognition for being such a great singer and having so much of his youthful voice intact. They are missing the power and purity of Brian's falsetto--none of the latter-day guys seem to really be able to reproduce that--but IMO they do justice to one of their greatest songs.

Imagine Brian had kept his ability to sing falsetto into his later years like Foskett and others (but obviously I don't mean sound like them).  It would be amazing.  It might not be a popular opinion but for a guy who sang like Brian did it's a shame the voice changed so much.  That 60s and early 70s voice was an amazing gift.  Imagine him standing front of the stage with the bass on.  The guy from the TAMI show but older and more wrinkled.  What a sight that would be.

[HeyJude]

This PS recording session was billed as recording for Spotify, so I would imagine the full live in-studio album performance, at least the audio of it, will be made available on Spotify at some point.

It's a great video clip. The one weird thing is the lack of drums. It does at least lend a slightly "unplugged" vibe to it (I realize it's obviously not actually all-acoustic of course).

[petsoundsnola]

I love the look on Brian's face as he watches Al sing.  Such a look of pride and approval.  It is heartwarming to see these two men still in the same room together enjoying their life's passion.  The Hawthorne High quarterback "handing off" vocal duties to his halfback.

Their vocal blend even at age 73 is still great.   

[HeyJude]

I love the look on Brian's face as he watches Al sing.  Such a look of pride and approval.  It is heartwarming to see these two men still in the same room together enjoying their life's passion.  The Hawthorne High quarterback "handing off" vocal duties to his halfback.

Their vocal blend even at age 73 is still great.   

It's especially heartening, and shows some growth and getting past BS, that they're at this place now versus, say, 2005 when they both went to the Hawthorne Landmark event yet couldn't even perform together or do anything other than pose for photos together. I remember thinking, "Really? Three Beach Boys there and none of them can perform together? They wouldn't even have had the added pressure of it being a 'reunion.' It would just be three dudes performing a few songs!"

I think even Al's handful of 2006/07 gigs with Brian were imbued with some politics, so I'm glad that in this latest iteration, there seems to be true admiration and appreciation on all sides.

[urbanite]

I thought Brian's vocal was pretty rough.

[Cool Cool Water]

I love the look on Brian's face as he watches Al sing.  

Yeah, that was a great moment indeed! Heartwarming in many respects.

[MarcellaHasDirtyFeet]

I thought Brian pulled off a great vocal for a vocal line that reaches the upper end of his current range-- usually at the end of a phrase, too! They made it work together in a wonderful way that transcended their limitations.

Probably my new favorite version of "Sloop John B." I think Jardine the Younger blends really well with the rest of Brian's band, the arrangement was tasteful, and it has two Beach Boys harmonizing without outside interference.

That's what I missed the most during the C50-- I wanted to hear Mike, Brian, Bruce and Al (with Foskett's falsetto on top... but nowhere else... although I wish it had been Matt Jardine back then) to hear what the modern day "blend" sounded like. The closest we came was that filmed acoustic set with just Jeff and Scott augmenting the Boys. TWGMTR sounded like Foskett doubled every singer, and that bothered me more than the "mysterious audio effect that turns people into robots."

[Cool Cool Water]

I thought Brian's vocal was pretty rough.

Regarding Brian's current vox range, I think he did really well. Keeping all that in mind they're not rough at all lol.

[Ram4]

That was a great version.  Al and Brian sounded really good.  Matt Jardine - fantastic high harmony and blend with the others.  I definitely prefer him doing it to Foskett.  Can they go back and fix TWGMTR by having Matt re-do Foskett's parts?

[ruskalupagus]

Wow! I'm shocked at how good Brian and All sounded together! Now I'm really upset there isn't a Pet Sounds show anywhere near me

[Sam_BFC]

I thought Brian's vocal was pretty rough.

Regarding Brian's current vox range, I think he did really well. Keeping all that in mind they're not rough at all lol.

I think Brian may be mixed a little too high or perhaps there's too much of a presence boost on his voice or something, something sounds slightly off to me, not sure what others think.

Cool video on the whole though and look forward to seeing the rest.

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

I thought Brian's vocal was pretty rough.

I thought he sounded ( this is for bro Manning) EFFIG fantastic. 

[Competition Clutch]

I love the look on Brian's face as he watches Al sing.  Such a look of pride and approval.  It is heartwarming to see these two men still in the same room together enjoying their life's passion.  The Hawthorne High quarterback "handing off" vocal duties to his halfback.

Their vocal blend even at age 73 is still great.   

Good point.  Technically, Al was the fullback, per Jim Murphy's superb book, Becoming the Beach Boys

[Lonely Summer]

I don't know if Brian has a strong-enough affinity for the entire '88 album to do it all live. Beyond L&M, he has occasionally pulled out "Melt Away." My jaw dropped when I saw him premiere "Let It Shine" in the setlist in 2000, but that was gone by the end of that year. I don't think he's touched much else.

He hasn't much gone back to old solo albums after he promotes them. "Your Imagination" was surprisingly pulled out for some summer 2013 shows with Al and Dave (I've sometimes wondered if Joe Thomas suggested it, he popped up in a few pics on that summer 2013 tour), but he doesn't do much solo stuff outside of L&M and whatever new album he's plugging.

And that's a shame; his voice is much more suited for the solo songs than trying to redo the 60's hits. Plus, I would expect the fans at a Brian Wilson show to be much more hardcore fans that know the lesser known material; I figure Mike's show is for the casual fans that just want the greatest hits. Maybe the 80's solo stuff brings back too many painful memories of his "collaborator who never left me alone". I never even knew he'd done Melt Away live; and if the relationship with Van Dyke is frostly now, that probably means we will never hear the Orange Crate Art songs live.

[HeyJude]

I don't know if Brian has a strong-enough affinity for the entire '88 album to do it all live. Beyond L&M, he has occasionally pulled out "Melt Away." My jaw dropped when I saw him premiere "Let It Shine" in the setlist in 2000, but that was gone by the end of that year. I don't think he's touched much else.

He hasn't much gone back to old solo albums after he promotes them. "Your Imagination" was surprisingly pulled out for some summer 2013 shows with Al and Dave (I've sometimes wondered if Joe Thomas suggested it, he popped up in a few pics on that summer 2013 tour), but he doesn't do much solo stuff outside of L&M and whatever new album he's plugging.

And that's a shame; his voice is much more suited for the solo songs than trying to redo the 60's hits. Plus, I would expect the fans at a Brian Wilson show to be much more hardcore fans that know the lesser known material; I figure Mike's show is for the casual fans that just want the greatest hits. Maybe the 80's solo stuff brings back too many painful memories of his "collaborator who never left me alone". I never even knew he'd done Melt Away live; and if the relationship with Van Dyke is frostly now, that probably means we will never hear the Orange Crate Art songs live.

I don't think Brian is necessarily opposed to doing songs written with people he's presently estranged from. I just think, especially on a PS tour, there isn't much room left to mess around with the setlist. I'd have to say I'd rather hear a BB deep cut we haven't heard than hear him pull out "Imagination" or "Gettin' in Over My Head" material. A few '88 tracks might be interesting, but I'd probably even in that case rather hear something like "Goin' On" or "Don't Go Near the Water" or "Santa Ana Winds."

[Lonely Summer]

I don't know if Brian has a strong-enough affinity for the entire '88 album to do it all live. Beyond L&M, he has occasionally pulled out "Melt Away." My jaw dropped when I saw him premiere "Let It Shine" in the setlist in 2000, but that was gone by the end of that year. I don't think he's touched much else.

He hasn't much gone back to old solo albums after he promotes them. "Your Imagination" was surprisingly pulled out for some summer 2013 shows with Al and Dave (I've sometimes wondered if Joe Thomas suggested it, he popped up in a few pics on that summer 2013 tour), but he doesn't do much solo stuff outside of L&M and whatever new album he's plugging.

And that's a shame; his voice is much more suited for the solo songs than trying to redo the 60's hits. Plus, I would expect the fans at a Brian Wilson show to be much more hardcore fans that know the lesser known material; I figure Mike's show is for the casual fans that just want the greatest hits. Maybe the 80's solo stuff brings back too many painful memories of his "collaborator who never left me alone". I never even knew he'd done Melt Away live; and if the relationship with Van Dyke is frostly now, that probably means we will never hear the Orange Crate Art songs live.

I don't think Brian is necessarily opposed to doing songs written with people he's presently estranged from. I just think, especially on a PS tour, there isn't much room left to mess around with the setlist. I'd have to say I'd rather hear a BB deep cut we haven't heard than hear him pull out "Imagination" or "Gettin' in Over My Head" material. A few '88 tracks might be interesting, but I'd probably even in that case rather hear something like "Goin' On" or "Don't Go Near the Water" or "Santa Ana Winds."

Sure seems like there's not much enthusiasm for his solo material. Not all of his solo material has been Pet Sounds quality, but there are plenty of great songs he could do. It's not like he died as an artist in 1967. Or 1971.

[Debbie KL]

Wow! I'm shocked at how good Brian and All sounded together! Now I'm really upset there isn't a Pet Sounds show anywhere near me

Yes, excellent.  Well, there are supposed to be great airfares through tomorrow, and lots of great places to see along with Brian's show.

[HeyJude]

WIBN from the same session:

http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/music/this-joyous-beach-boys-video-will-make-you-happy-to-be-alive

[Rocky Raccoon]

WIBN from the same session:

http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/music/this-joyous-beach-boys-video-will-make-you-happy-to-be-alive

Matt does a nice job but I still think Al sings it better.

[Pretty Funky]

Oops. A certain ex-keyboardist lurking in the background in that one.

Is that Probyn wearing a cap playing guitar btw?

[HeyJude]

Oops. A certain ex-keyboardist lurking in the background in that one.

Is that Probyn wearing a cap playing guitar btw?

Looks like Probyn, yes.

As for Bennett, it's hard to say for sure, but it kind of looks like they've purposely put the few distant shots of him out of focus in post production. Not sure why that would be easier than just cropping the footage or editing it without any shots of him if that was the goal.

[CenturyDeprived]

Oops. A certain ex-keyboardist lurking in the background in that one.

Is that Probyn wearing a cap playing guitar btw?

Looks like Probyn, yes.

As for Bennett, it's hard to say for sure, but it kind of looks like they've purposely put the few distant shots of him out of focus in post production. Not sure why that would be easier than just cropping the footage or editing it without any shots of him if that was the goal.

Ouch. That is really awkward. I'd be lying if I didn't say it wasn't insulting too. Yet it's not as though I don't completely understand why it was done.

I wonder if both Brian and Scott really thought that Scott would beat the charge. If Brian and Melinda had an inkling that it was probable that Scott was gonna be found guilty in a few months, I wonder if Scott would have been part of a video filmed for future release.

[tpesky]

Al sings WIBN better for sure, he always has but it really challenges his range especially night after night. It would be awesome if he did it for one offs like this though like the Vegas thing they did.

I thought Brian sounded a little rough on that first chorus of Sloop with just he and Al. I think it sounds better when Al takes the higher step.