New album info (as it rolls out...)

[Shady]

Promoted right, "Shelter" could be a huge hit..

What a chorus

[rab2591]

This may be fairly obvious, but who sings the chorus lead on 'Shelter'?

It sounds like Jeff, but I'm really not used to the voices of the older Beach Boys.

^Indeed, that sounds like a killer chorus. I really can't wait to hear this album - just another week or so!

[runnersdialzero]

'tis Jefferz.

[DonnyL]

Here's the thing ... there is a great Beach Boys album in the can (more or less) with the Paley material.  Brian has done nothing that can touch 'It's Not Easy Being Me' since at least Love You, possibly since 'Til I Die'.  Those original tracks, "Still A Mystery", "Gettin in Over My Head", "I'm Broke", etc ... they are all gold.  Throw some extra BB vocals on here and there, leave Carl's vocals in wherever they can.  This record would restore respect for the Beach Boys and give 'em their best record since '77 and one more true classic to go out with a bang.

It seems the group's management and Brian's people are not and have not been interested in actually supporting a true Brian Wilson production since Love You.  There's even that funny little 'apology' in the liner notes.  Then he gave 'em the brilliant Adult Child but we got M.I.U. instead. I know we really want to believe, but TWGMTR (the new album) is most certainly not an actual Brian Wilson production.  I'm sure he threw in some ideas here and there (maybe any of the quirky elements), but this is a Joe Thomas deal.  I mean, they are releasing 'Daybreak' on a record that says 'Produced by Brian Wilson'.  It's sort of like they realized a long time ago that the label needs to say he produced it, but it's much safer bring in somebody like Joe Thomas to actually produce it.  The new record is fine, but it really does seem like a cross between Still Cruisin' and BW '88.  With a generous amount of auto-tune frosting.

[Runaways]

I think a lot of the verses from the paley sessions uses would need to be redone and get a bigger production. 

[DonnyL]

I think a lot of the verses from the paley sessions uses would need to be redone and get a bigger production. 

a lot of people would say the same thing about Love You and Adult Child.  What happens is you end up with the M.I.U. version of 'Hey Little Tomboy' instead of the original ... the sanitized version.  What this world needs is some real f*in Brian Wilson / Beach Boys music.  I know I need it.

[keysarsoze001]

When was the last time Brian legitimately called the shots on the production of an album the way he did on Love You, do we know? The 2004 SMiLE doesn't count, cause that was just a copy of production he'd done 40 years earlier. From what I've seen on the TLOS dvd, sure, he's in the booth, but you get the sense that the band plays a really large role in determining how each song sounds, and then Brian sort of gives feedback. I'd love to be wrong, so please tell me if I am.

In some ways (and I'll tread lightly here), I feel like the last three BW releases have felt more like someone imitating the sound of Pet Sounds and SMiLE rather than pushing forward into new territory. ITKOD was basically "The Pet Sound Boys Play 'When You Wish Upon a Star' and Other Disney Favorites". Don't get me wrong, I love the last three albums, but I hate to think that Brian truly thinks bass harmonica and vibraphone are the most appropriate instruments for every song ever written. Say what you will about Love You, but it was a legitimately new sound for them.

On the one hand, I'd be fascinated to learn where his creative mind would take him production-wise if he had a room full of musicians who wouldn't play a note until he told them how he wanted it to sound. On the other, it's a huge gamble on the part of those around him, because you never know when he's going to bring you something so bizarre that it's unmarketable.

[southbay]

This may be fairly obvious, but who sings the chorus lead on 'Shelter'?

It sounds like Jeff, but I'm really not used to the voices of the older Beach Boys.

^Indeed, that sounds like a killer chorus. I really can't wait to hear this album - just another week or so!

Foskett.  It is diiffuclt (no, impossible) to listen to that chorus and not hear Carl's voice singing it in your head

[rab2591]

This may be fairly obvious, but who sings the chorus lead on 'Shelter'?

It sounds like Jeff, but I'm really not used to the voices of the older Beach Boys.

^Indeed, that sounds like a killer chorus. I really can't wait to hear this album - just another week or so!

Foskett.  It is diiffuclt (no, impossible) to listen to that chorus and not hear Carl's voice singing it in your head

I did the same thing! How missed he is.

[DonnyL]

When was the last time Brian legitimately called the shots on the production of an album the way he did on Love You, do we know? The 2004 SMiLE doesn't count, cause that was just a copy of production he'd done 40 years earlier. From what I've seen on the TLOS dvd, sure, he's in the booth, but you get the sense that the band plays a really large role in determining how each song sounds, and then Brian sort of gives feedback. I'd love to be wrong, so please tell me if I am.

In some ways (and I'll tread lightly here), I feel like the last three BW releases have felt more like someone imitating the sound of Pet Sounds and SMiLE rather than pushing forward into new territory. ITKOD was basically "The Pet Sound Boys Play 'When You Wish Upon a Star' and Other Disney Favorites". Don't get me wrong, I love the last three albums, but I hate to think that Brian truly thinks bass harmonica and vibraphone are the most appropriate instruments for every song ever written. Say what you will about Love You, but it was a legitimately new sound for them.

On the one hand, I'd be fascinated to learn where his creative mind would take him production-wise if he had a room full of musicians who wouldn't play a note until he told them how he wanted it to sound. On the other, it's a huge gamble on the part of those around him, because you never know when he's going to bring you something so bizarre that it's unmarketable.

Adult Child was the last full album.  And they still haven't put that one out.

I think we all know what Brian Wilson productions sound like and they are generally weird and unpredictable, and a little disconcerting at times.  Everything released since Love You seems to have had quite a bit of professional 'help' in getting a finished product.  Andy Paley seemed to let BW loose and let him be however he wanted to be.  And whatever Paley did contribute, even if it was apeing Brian, sounds closer to Brian than anyone else's attempts.  It just sounds like natural music, unlike what has come since.  But those songs are so raw and honest ... too much for Brian's people I guess.  The ironic thing is if you put out this raw stuff, it would become critically acclaimed and probably sell more than TWGMTR or any of his solo albums (except SMiLE).

Here's the deal: Brian Wilson is strange. And his music is strange. And the best Beach Boys stuff is strange. Strange, weird Beach Boys is marketable. The people calling the shots are not hip and don't seem to understand this. The group needs some musical controversy but they are playing it safe.  "they continue to blow it ...", etc.

[Wirestone]

Bull.

[keysarsoze001]

Right, gotcha. I think for the buying public who arrived at the Beach Boys because of the hits, they will just never be ready for Brian's music to be weird. When your initial impression of someone is all of the music from 63-65 or so, it's a difficult leap to then try to listen to something even as challenging as Smiley Smile. In the context of a 50th anniversary tour, I don't think this would be the logical time to release something strange. That'd just lead to the same situation they had with the Brian's Back period, where the hype was "Hey, you liked that recent greatest hits collection?! Well, Brian's writing a bunch more stuff that sounds JUST LIKE THAT!" and then everyone sits perplexedly around their turntables listening to a bunch of oldies and strange synths and "Just Once in My Life" and they're just not prepared psychologically for it. Personally, I wasn't a huge Beach Boys fan UNTIL I bought Love You, Surf's Up, and the 2004 SMiLE. So my frame of mind was to expect the unusual from Brian. If I'd started with Fun Fun Fun, maybe it'd be different, I don't know.

[Smilin Ed H]

"That blurb from Joe that Wirestone posted makes me really like the guy"

Unfortunately, the resulting album was only a third decent and that had to do with the songs rather than the production and instrumentisation.  In the BB world, nothing is black and white.  Thomas and O'Hagan obvioulsy love the music. I've seen a quote along the lines of Was being keen on 'collecting' the great artists of the 60s as some kind of pet project.  The work with the Stones was great; with Dylan, beyond awful; with Brian, it was sometimes inspired; sometimes so-so.

My objection to Thomas is the horrible synthetic AOR veneer of his approach - although i thought some of the choice of songs (by whoever...) was poor considering what was lying around.

I'm not going to buy the sudden deification of Thomas simply because he's worked on the new album or because he likes Surf's Up, admirable though that undoubtedly is (in my book).

[Rocker]

Unfortunately, the resulting album was only a third decent and that had to do with the songs rather than the production and instrumentisation.  In the BB world, nothing is black and white.  Thomas and O'Hagan obvioulsy love the music. I've seen a quote along the lines of Was being keen on 'collecting' the great artists of the 60s as some kind of pet project.  The work with the Stones was great;

I think "Bridges to Babylon" was terrible except for one or two tracks.


I agree about Thomas, but I have hopes that his AOR approach won't be that hard on the new album (a little bit probably won't be that bad). Brian's albums after Imagination and people like Darian and Scott B. hopefully will have enough influence

[Mr. Cohen]

I think we all know what Brian Wilson productions sound like and they are generally weird and unpredictable, and a little disconcerting at times.

Amen. That's also why I hate Paul Mertens! He's so predictable in that classically trained way. Brian's arrangements were never so conventional.  When I hear a woodwind or string arrangement from Mertens, I just cringe inside. Go arrange a new CATS! production already and get off my BW record!

[Ziggy Stardust]

http://youtu.be/g0zrvCWJZQ0

Seriously, this is incredible (plus many other songs from that album) ! such a missed opportunity to make a super solid record with The Beach Boys for the first time since Love You.. well, it's still out there, but under the Brian Wilson name, which is great, but i just feel bad for the BB career.. i guess TWGMTR will be better than their last releases, but still..

[the professor]

If you analyze the album in the context of Mike's and Brian's discussion on C Rose about exuberance and melancholy, you will be less likely to de-contextualize individual songs and concepts in the album (I have written about this in previous posts).  For those you you who accuse me of committing the fallacy of imitative form, I will contend again that the authorial agent that brought these song together in this order and in their current artistic manifestations (be it JT, BW, MJ, the other BB, Capital records, etc.) has crafted a meaningful whole in which the nostalgia and corn play an historical role, poignantly ironized and re-imaginaged with every new track as the album unfolds.

Other notes: the verses of Shelter recall Brian Eno, and, in fact, the whole album has an ambient "Before and after science" feel to it. Some Fripertronics in Spring Vacation too.

"As long as there is an ocean" in daybreak recalls "if everybody had an ocean," as Mike is now confronting Time "sub specie aeternitatis," as the whole album is doing. As one of you noted, Brian's "strange world after all" is an ironical recapitulation (and tasteful refutation?) complete with Pet-Sounds bike bells, of the Disney album.

I could go on all day, but this does not pay the rent.

I am so thankful for this forum and for all your comments, critical and laudatory; it all makes us learn and ponder.  I was just invited to the Santa Barbara show Monday by my cousin, so I will see them 3 x in one week  (Hollywood bowl, then Irvine).

Furthermore: I thin kit likely they will do another album with all this success and all this material out there; do they only have a one-album contract with Cap.?

[Autotune]

Hard for me to understand the reason why so many people want an official release of a bunch of songs they already have and can listen when they want. Paley sessions are ok, as are many unreleased songs from the past that have leaked, but I prefer new stuff. Eventually we'll get the archival stuff anyway. If it's old but unheard of, it's good also. Besides, every time a new release has included a previiously heard song, the reaction among the fanbase tends to be "meh". It was that way with GIOMH and a few others

[Mr. Cohen]

Seriously, this is incredible (plus many other songs from that album) ! such a missed opportunity to make a super solid record with The Beach Boys for the first time since Love You.. well, it's still out there, but under the Brian Wilson name, which is great, but i just feel bad for the BB career.. i guess TWGMTR will be better than their last releases, but still..

Agreed. A typical interview with someone from BW's band: "We know what Brian wants, so he doesn't have to offer as much input. We decide that he wants Pet Sounds style arrangements, and then with the help of Brian's managers and wife we force him to solicit opinions on our brilliant arrangements that are just expression of his unexpressed desires. Sometimes, he says something insane, like 'hit the tom 4 four times before going back into the verse', and we all think it's crazy! But then, somehow, it works and leads brilliantly into Paul Mertens' tear-jerking Smile-ish string arrangement. That's the genius of Brian. I'll decide that he really wants this specific chord progression, and then he just walks up and throws a B diminished chord in there. And I'm like, Brain - you crazy! You so crazy!"

[Ziggy Stardust]

It really shows he DEFINITELY still has it and that his great band knows how to make him sound the best and create some real solid instrumental stuff..

I mean that album is just amazing and i could really hear some Al Jardine on some songs or Mike Love doing the narrative.

[drbeachboy]

Hard for me to understand the reason why so many people want an official release of a bunch of songs they already have and can listen when they want. Paley sessions are ok, as are many unreleased songs from the past that have leaked, but I prefer new stuff. Eventually we'll get the archival stuff anyway. If it's old but unheard of, it's good also. Besides, every time a new release has included a previiously heard song, the reaction among the fanbase tends to be "meh". It was that way with GIOMH and a few others

Many of those Paley Sessions are messed up. They all need speed and pitch correction of some kind.

[Wirestone]

The notion that "we all" know what a BW production sounds like -- and that this "obvious" knowledge proves his noninvolvement in his recent records' sound or production ignores history and the records themselves.

Love You and Adult Child were abberations in BW's creative trajectory -- the work of a man forced to create one-man band productions as therapy. Little in BW's work before or after this time suggests that he prefers to work in this manner, and much of it suggests instead that he wants to make pop records for the widest audience possible using the same musicians and a stable of trusted collaborators.

Which, amazingly, is what he has managed to do over the last dozen years.

[DonnyL]

Hard for me to understand the reason why so many people want an official release of a bunch of songs they already have and can listen when they want. Paley sessions are ok, as are many unreleased songs from the past that have leaked, but I prefer new stuff. Eventually we'll get the archival stuff anyway. If it's old but unheard of, it's good also. Besides, every time a new release has included a previiously heard song, the reaction among the fanbase tends to be "meh". It was that way with GIOMH and a few others

Many of those Paley Sessions are messed up. They all need speed and pitch correction of some kind.

Oh dear.

[Outtasight!]

The Paley tracks to my mind would have been the best BW solo album he's done, period . I'd prefer an official archive release as is though rather than further recording and a release as a new BB's album.

[Sheriff John Stone]

It seems the group's management and Brian's people are not and have not been interested in actually supporting a true Brian Wilson production since Love You.  

That is true. And, warranted or unwarranted, Brian somewhat is to blame (for lack of a better word) . I think, to the group and the record companies, Brian burned too many bridges, disappointed people, didn't deliver what others wanted or expected.

After Pet Sounds and "Good Vibrations", the Beach Boys were on the top of the music world, and Brian did Smiley Smile. After the Endless Summer/Spirit Of America explosion, the Beach Boys were arguably the most popular band in the world, and Brian produced 15 Big Ones and Love You. To a lesser degree, by the time "Getcha Back" came out, the Beach Boys were gaining some momentum again, and Brian was supposedly involved in the 1985 album and learning the new technology blah blah blah, and his contributions on the 1985 album were less than expected. In each case, with each of the above releases, the Beach Boys took a big nosedive.

There is a trend here. Momentum is built, Brian - for whatever reason - records the wrong album at the wrong time. Or, usually due to substances -  prescribed or otherwise - isn't in shape to come through. Whether it is Mike Love or Melinda or the record company or whoever, they do not want history to repeat itself. Thus, we get the Brian-assisted productions. How much "assistance" Brian was given is the big question. However, it appears this regime at Capitol Records is covering all the bases.