The Smiley Smile Message Board

Does anyone have any thoughts on the new Brian Wilson cut on the Target CD that was released today?  I've listened to it just once so far...I think it will take a few listens to get used to the song.

"God Only Knows" sounds great from the first listen.  It definitely sounds, though, as if Brian's lead was somehow enhanced.

Oh God! Don't open that can of worms!!  :lol


I haven't heard the other track yet, I'm going to go and try and find a sample.

Is the CD being stocked at Target stores?  According to their website, it is only available for order.  I would run over to Target and pick this up this afternoon if I knew it was being stocked.  I'm interested to hear how the song (What Love Can Do) turned out.  Are the harmonies on the intro out of tune as they were on the demo?  Does Brian sing the lead or did he let someone else do it?  I'd love to see Brian hand out more leads to various members of his ensemble, as he did in the Beach Boys.

It was at my local store, but I've heard of many people that went to their local store that were unable to find it, and some were told to come back on Tuesday (although Sunday was the official release date).  There is also another CD that may be of interest: "A Song For My Father" features sons and daughters of famous artists performing their dads' music.  Carnie & Wendy sing "The Warmth Of The Sun", which turned out really nice.

I heard about that one too...sounds pretty cool.  On the promo site it didn't say which tune Carnie and Wendy were doing, but "Warmth of the Sun" is a great pick.  I'll have to look for that one too!

I picked this up last night at my local Target, and after a couple of plays here are my initial observations on the Wilson/Bacharach/Krikorian song, "What Love Can Do".  Produced by Phil Ramone and Brian Wilson.  Orchestrated by Paul Von Mertins.  Sung by Brian Wilson, but doubled by another member of his band (or maybe Bruce, I can't tell).  Here are the credits as listed in the booklet:
Piano - Burt Bacharach
Vocals, Guitar, Percussion - Jeffery Foskett
Keyboards, Vocals - Gary Griffin
Guitar, Vocals - Nick Walusko
Guitar, Vocals - Probyn Gregory
Guitar solo - Ted Perlman
Percussion, Vocals - Nelson Bragg Jr.
Keyboards - Scott Bennett
Drums - Jim Hines
Bass - Bob Lizik
Acoustic bass - Dave Stone
Vocals - Taylor Mills
Recorded by Mark Linnett (sic) at Oceanway Studios, L.A.

The song starts the same way as the demo, but with the band singing instead of a bunch of pitchy Brians (it still sounds a little bit out of tune to my ears).  Brian starts the verse right out front, but soon you can clearly hear that Brian is doubled, and in a couple spots (especially at the very end of the song) I can't hear Brian at all.  They did a good job in most places, though, of blending the two voices so that you can get the essence of Brian's voice.  The background vocals sound very good, nice blend of voices, nice vocal arrangement.  The instrumental arrangement is good, as well.  Though the credits don't list them, I hear what sound like real strings.  I may be wrong about them being real, because I am listening on my computer.  I also hear the obligitory Wilsonesque vibes, bass harmonica, woodblocks, and maybe a french horn.  Again, these could be samples, but I can't really tell through my computer speakers.  The song sounds very much like a Bacharach song throughout.  I hear bits that sound Brianish, but it sounds more Bacharach to me.  The chorus is very poppy, not bad.  I don't like the guitar solo at all, I think I could have done at least as well, but he (Perlman) is a bigshot producer and I'm not.  All in all, I'm liking the tune so far. 

That makes me curious LostArt. I tried to buy through their website but they don't ship internationally. Why, I don't know. On the Brian Wilson website it's promoted heavily and I know the messageboard is visited by people from all over the world. So I won't be hearing both songs. Like many others....

International .. sadly that also includes Canada....

once again, looks like I will have to use alternate sources to hear this... :-[

First of all, it sounds more like a Bacharach song than a Wilson song to my ears--I wonder if Brian's input was more in terms of background vocals and arrangement ideas than the bulk of the song itself. But it is a nice song. Brian sings pretty well, within his current range. The background vocals are nice. I especially like the "And you and I are..." at 1:38 or so.

I really like it! The production is lovely (Phil Ramone adds a nice touch), its warmer than some of Brians recent stuff and the harmonies sound very full.
Brians voice does sound a lot like Ozzy Osbournes does now, but its very pleasant. It does sound quite Bacharachy, but then so do a lot of Brians songs, utilising a lot of the same types of chords and changes, if there was a whole album like this, I would be very happy, I would go as far to say that this might be the best song Brian has been involved in many years and gives me hope that he still has it.................................I know i'm naive, but I always have faith in my idols!
 :)

I really like it aside from the electric guitar solo (totally out of left field)...Brian sounds fantastic, the backing vocals are great as usual, and the arrangment is just what you'd expect from these two.  I think the song overall sounds more like Burt than Brian, but the backing vocals especially are pure Brian.  If Brian keeps producing work of this quality, I'll certainly be looking forward to a great album (if and when it happens).

At least we avoided what I was beginning to think was the obligatory P. Mertens sax solo.

You can listen to What Love Can Do here:

http://music.download.com/newmusicfromanoldfriendsingersongwriterlegends/3600-8742_32-101016775.html

Good point.  Oddly enough though I think that would have fit a little better with the song. 

Thanks to Tord for the link.

I love it, I've listened to it a number of times now. I agree with Chris, I'll take more of this ANY time from Brian. There's no mistaking the Bacharach in the song, but there's a lot of Brian in the vocals, both lead and backing. There's some real nice changes in it that sound very Brian-ish.

The band sounds terrific too. Great BVs, really perfect for this song. I don't even mind the guitar solo.

I definitely need to buy the CD.

Thanks to Tord again for this link....

Love it... wish I could buy it ( Canadians are not able to at this point)

I would also really really love to hear a whole cd of Brian and company putting that kind of effort into a song...
excellent vocals and production  ********

I am liking this song more and more with repeated listens. I don't think it ranks among the best of either co-composer's work, but it is really nice.

Could someone please post a different link to the song?  When I try to listen I get caught in an endless loop where the media player refreshes over and over and over...HELP!

NEVERMIND: It is working just fine now.

nice tune! what a team here. would like to know who wrote what.

the guitar solo's not over-the-top or anything.  kind of nice, but I would prefer a french horn or a clarinet.  something a little more Burt or "Had to Phone Ya" would've been cool.

i'd like to hear a demo or something with just Burt and Brian singing this.  maybe with Dionne and Stevie Wonder on harmonica?  ;)

I like it very much. It sounds indeed a lot like Bacharach, but then again it also has that typical BW vibe to it that makes you feel fine almost immediately. Looking forward to That Lucky Old Sun...

Brian sounds great! To me, his vocals are so critical in his solo songs reaching their full potential. This song gives me hope, and hope is something I need right now...

Count me impressed.

Suggests that Brian really could use a co-producer in the studio. Those are some of his smoothest vocals on record since the Joe Thomas days ...

The song itself is cool too. Love the chorus.

Actually, i feel they are even better. Imagination is more "robotic". Brian is singing with *feeling*, and I cannot remember the last time he did that (apart from some moments on What I really want from Christmas).

Just got the CD, my wife picked it up at the local Target for me.

I was surprised how great it was to hear the mid-60s aged BW and that fabulous band perform GOK. I thought the band was really tight and crisp, Probyn's French horn was really expressive. The whole song exceeded my expectations by a very long way. I actually started to choke up a bit...

"What Can Love Do"  is simply wonderful! It's really well recorded, the BVs are great, and Brian's leads are really good. I must confess that the guitar solo does indeed seem out of place and uninspired now that I've heard it on something besides a 32K stream. Why the solo was played by someone outside the band is puzzling too. I'm sure Nick or Scott could have played a much more creative solo than what's-his-name did. But other than that it's as good as I imagined it would be!

Can someone tell me - is Target a common US high street store (like Woolworths in the UK?). If so, I can get someone in the US to post it to me in the UK.

I think WLCD is great and far better than anything on GIOMH, which is a great shame and underlines AGD's feelings about that album. Whatever GIOMH was going to sound like, they shouldn't have muddied the waters in the Year of Smile by releasing anything else; bad management decision.

I bought the CD through Amazon.com so you might want to try Amazon UK and see if they have it.  To answer your question, yes, Target stores are all over the US, similar to Walmart.

Here's the dilemma: I'm pretty sure that nobody wanted GIOMH to come out as a "follow-up" to "SMiLE", so the deal was arranged through Warner Bros. to have Rhino release GIOMH a few months ahead of Nonesuch releasing "SMiLE". I agree it muddied the waters a bit, but I'm pretty sure GIOMH would never have been released post-"SMiLE" and I, for one, am happy to have it warts and all.

http://music.download.com/newmusicfromanoldfriendsingersongwriterlegends/3600-8742_32-101016775.html?tag=MDL_list

What Love Can Do...

This sounds pretty impressive.  I think Burt kept it commercial which is kind of where Brian shines... even stuff like Surf's up and Til I Die was commercial. 

Jim, what did you write in the search at amazon.com.? I tried both at amazon.com and at amazon.co.uk, but no luck.

This is one of my new favorite BW songs. Everything about it shines. The production, melody, subtle arrangements, harmonies. An instant classic. Wilson/Bacharach are a perfect match for each other. Lots of maj7 chords as well, which both artists are extremely fond of.  This would have fit perfectly on Sunflower or Friends.

It honestly doesn't sound like a Beach Boys tune at all.  It sounds too Burt Bacharach to be Beach Boys.  It's still a pleasant tune; heads and tails better than the re-re-recording of "Spirit of Rock & Roll". 

It absolutely sounds like a BB tune. The Bacharach influence is all over Pet Sounds, so there is one instance. It really sounds like something that could have fit on Sunflower. 

I guess this isn't part of LOS then ?
Hope it makes it on any CD release...

It has. Check out your local Target.

Yep. This song is still awesome. I still think this is one of BW' post BB-best. Also, this is exactly what I imagined what would have come out of a collaboration with Mr. Bacharach. Incredible.

I have been trying to purchase the song as a download at Target and Itunes and everywhere. It can't be done. Drag! What I had been doing was collecting all the songs from the last year or two onto a little CD to tide me over until Lucky Old Sun is released.

He's got eight or nine tracks from the last year and a half with -Midnight another day- Live and Let live-and Believe in yourself and Heaven Etc Etc. I like the new stuff Its not the best ever. But its nice. I resent having to pay twenty or thirty bucks for an album I dont want just to get the one song however. Highway Robbery! I dont mind paying a couple bucks to Target or whoever for the song however. But they wont allow it @. How can that be ? What kind of crooked people are these ?

Anybody know where the song can be purchased as a download or single ?

I can't get the site to work at all, either in Firefox or IE. The little hand icon appears over the play button, but the button does not push when clicked on.

Now I see why. That is an old page. Maybe intentionally broken. I did, however, find it in (ahem) alt.binaries.boneless  ;D. Great song, and Brian's voice is remarkable.