Brian Reimagines Gershwin

[Shady]

She won't last long at #1

But will Brian get back to the top spot?

Find out next week....

[SloopJohnB]

German Amazon has it currently listed at #1216 

French Amazon has it listed at #12.419... 

[Myk Luhv]

It's #9 on Amazon Canada.

[Shady]

Can't see it at all in the top 50 here http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/sales/salescht.cgi

It obviously didn't make the top 50 or they couldn't for some reason get any early estimates

[absinthe_boy]

#158 on Amazon UK

Vinyl is #19,924 so I am guessing that the first ranking is just for the CD and doesn't include any other format.

As for ratings, I have rated albums (books, products) on Amazon and other sites regardless of whether I thought them great or not. I rate many albums that I have bought, in the hope of helping people make an educated choice. Sometimes I don't like a record that I have tried, but I can still give it 2 stars (assuming it isn't total dross) and explain what I did and didn't enjoy about it.

Brian, at 68, looks in fair shape. Sure, for many people their joints aren't as good as they once were...but lest we forget....Stirling Moss is still racing cars in his 80's. There are veteran athletes in most sports including very physical events such as marathon running, tennis and squash who are in their 70's, 80's and even 90's. Brian has had some good luck with his genes, in terms of his physical condition....less luck with his ability to handle emotions and probably a propensity towards addiction.

[Shady]

Right now their are a few disturbing signs that this album may chart shockingly very, very low.

Let's hope it's all a misunderstanding

[Wirestone]

Frustrating.

[Surfing Moose]

German Amazon has it currently listed at #1216 

French Amazon has it listed at #12.419... 

Maybe if I buy a second album it jumps to #312 in Germany or I buy in France and voila: #2165

[Shady]

If they just got the CD in stores, displayed it..man, what could be.

[HighOnLife]

I think some of you had your hopes up a bit too high.

Brian is a niche artist who did a niche album for a niche audience. It's a Gershwin album. How many people in your day to day lives talk about George Gershwin? It's not going to sell well in the current era of record sales. If Brian had recorded an album of new contemporary rock 'n roll in the vein of Imagination (not saying that that album was all original), it might have done better.

[Wirestone]

Rod Stewart. American Songbooks. Did exceptionally well.

It's not that niche.

[Bicyclerider]

Ugh, Katy Perry's Teenage Dream has taken over Brian's #1 spot on amazon.

I'm sure Brian doesn't mind Katy Perry on top of him.  

[HighOnLife]

Rod Stewart is far more popular than Brian is and has a competent record label promoting his albums.

I get the feeling that Disney Pearl looked at this like it was a toss-off record. Fire and forget.

[hypehat]

Boom Boom

But yeah, I couldn't see this lighting the world on fire. Which isn't a problem with Brian, or the music, but more a problem with the industry in which he releases it into. The world simply doesn't appreciate beautiful music like the Gershwin stuff anymore. Its not the fashion

God, I sound like an old fart at 19.

[Shady]

Hits daily double just updated..

31   BRIAN WILSON   DISNEY PEARL   12,006   

Not bad at all

[carl r]

To be honest, I am just glad it's seeing the light of day at all. I think some of the tracks are going to have a major 'half-life' as more people get to hear them. Especially Nothing But Love (which is for me the missing Beach Boys song in the mould of Good Timin' and It's OK), Love Is Here To Stay, I've Got A Crush On You, and maybe a couple of others, which I can imagine cropping up in years to come, as a part of different soundtracks.

[HighOnLife]

That is actually a good number for Brian considering the material, promotion, and availability of the album.

[Shady]

That is actually a good number for Brian considering the material, promotion, and availability of the album.

No doubt. And the word is spreading..

Also with possible Grammy attention I see this album having longevity

[Ron]

I"m so shocked anymore at how the music industry has changed.  Just a few short years ago, huge artists (ahem... I guess they're artists) were selling like 1.2 million copies their first week.  Think of the vast difference between then and now.  Even Eminem though doesn't sell anywhere near on that level anymore.  12 thousand though making #31 is just shocking.  10 years ago that wouldn't have made the top 200 would it?  Hell I think I could record an album and sell 12grand in a week.  Maybe not

I don't care how it sells, I love it and I think Disney did an alright job of promoting it.  The Distribution seems to be the problem to me... Amazon selling out is just fucking rediculous.

[Dave in KC]

I was wondering what the hell was going on. I ordered a copy from Amazon last night for a friend and the receipt said delivery Sept. 13th. More than ridiculous.

[Ron]

All that hype the execs gave saying that they want it to be a sleeper hit like Susan Boyle, then they ship like nothing to Amazon.

It can't possibly stay at #1 on amazon if it's backordered. 

[Leo K]

What Luther quoted, from the NPR show, was a little disconcerting:

Brian: "I never really heard much from Gershwin except for Rhapsody in Blue until I did this album. I had to be taught every song, all twelve songs, the way, all the way through, by my bandleader and my orchestrator, Paul Mertens."

I love the album, and how it sounds, but this knocked the wind out of my sails a little, considering the way the album is marketed as if Brian had a lifelong musical fascination with Gershwin, perhaps he did with Rhapsody in Blue, but not the other work, according to this quote.

[Wirestone]

Leo -- We talked about this quote earlier on the thread. Basically, Brian is full of it. The man produced a version of "Summertime" in 1964. He loves Rosemary Clooney and talked on the other NPR interview (taped the same day!) about other performers' versions of the Gershwin songs. He mentioned Linda Ronstadt and Herb Alpert by name. He has specifically wanted to make a standards album.

So he clearly knew of the songs and knew other performers' versions of them, even if he wasn't a total devotee. My assumption is simply that he means he didn't know how to play the songs, and that he didn't know the lyrics off the top of his head. He would need to know those things to arrange and produce the album, so Paul likely brought over some sheet music or something for the two to go over.

[Ron]

It's not really confined to just Brian, I'd like to point out.  Many, many, many, many celebrities and certainly musicians often say things that are just completely false.  For a while when I was younger I was into hiphop pretty good... these people just flat out say whatever the hell pops in their mind, knowing damn well that they're completely lying about it.

There's something about an interview, where it sets things up with such a false, insincere environment that I think it just leads to people feeling it doesn't matter what they say.  I'm a psychology major (or was, until I graduated!) so things like this fascinate me. 

When musicians do these huge publicity junkets or whatever they're considered, the entire thing is so fake that I think it just takes people out of reality or something.  There's something really strange about having 15 different people in the course of a couple hours ask you exactly the same questions, and you tell them exactly the same answers.  I don't know if they lie out of bordem, or what it is. 

I've heard Bonos name mentioned a lot recently on here for instance.  U2 keeps popping up, so we'll take him.  I've heard 4 different accounts of how the song "One" was written, FROM HIM, over the years in various interviews.  Certainly at least 3 of them are lies. 

I don't think they mean any harm by it, it's just what happens.  Maybe they're trying to please the interviewer, I don't know.

Brian certainly goes a little farther  than most, but the music industry is full of interviews that are less than truthfull.  When Brian said his band leader had to teach him all 12 songs, he was flat out, bald faced lying about it.  Complete fantasy, never happened. 

[Ron]

My assumption is simply that he means he didn't know how to play the songs, and that didn't know the lyrics off the top of his head. He would need to know those things to arrange and produce the album, so Paul likely brought over some sheet music or something for the two to go over.

I think that's probably what happened, yup.  Also I'd like to point out that Brian (it seems to me) has never really gave a sh*t about proper credit for what he's accomplished.  He doesn't really care if anybody knows Scott Bennett helped him write everything, Brian doesn't want any credit for things he didn't do.  So while some artists would never insinuate "it was all Paul's idea"... Brian is completely capable of giving Paul credit for the entire damn album.  He could care less is people think he was't involved.  He's kind of selfless in that regard... you can see it way back, on the pet sounds studio tapes and things, he was always open to ideas and improv in the studio, because he wasn't after any kind of recognition outside of making the best damn music possible, by any means possible.