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http://www.amazon.com/Key-Disney-Amazon-com-Exclusive/dp/B005LZWGGA/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1315593548&sr=1-1 (http://www.amazon.com/Key-Disney-Amazon-com-Exclusive/dp/B005LZWGGA/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1315593548&sr=1-1)

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Wow, everybody's sure waiting for this one with bated breath!  :lol

Well, good luck with that, as we say.  We shall see, I guess.  Fan though I am, this thing would have to go to the moon to get me to pry open my wallet.  I fear it will be more like Apollo 18.

when did it get pushed back to Oct. 25?

this will be a nice appetizer before the main course on Nov. 1  :3d

I'm still undecided. On the one hand, it would be the first BB-related record I didn't buy as soon as it was released, but on the other hand I'm not sure I really need an album of Disney songs.

One thing is for sure, I won't preorder it. I'm waiting for samples of all the tracks.

I preordered it. I have long thought Brian would do a great version of "When You Wish Upon a Star" and soon I'll get to see how close reality comes to the version I hear in my head.  :P

Have to say, I'm looking at the album cover and I continue to dislike how Brian is promoted these days.

I have stated in another thread, and it's true, that I'm more excited for this than TSS.

I'll probably give this a listen at some point after I've burned out on the Smile box... probably around 2013.  :lol

Out of curiosity, what do you see as wrong and what would you like to see done differently?

It is nice that this is actually being released in the UK the same week as in the US...BWRG was not for some reason...having said that, I might just have it delivered with Smile box if I order that from Amazon as well.

Jeez, I almost forgot about this and I still want it too.

Blame SMiLE  :lol

Thanks for the Amazon link but I'm gonna wait for the edition with the light-up surfboard autographed by Elton John.

I won't be pre-ordering. I'll buy it at the store. Mylo Xyloto comes out that same day - I'll be happily trapped inside my headphones for the day ;D

I'm actually really excited for this..

It's bound to be a fun album

what's the  deal with the amazon.com "exclsuive"? Available at several uk sites so why exclusive?

Regarding the latest cover albums:

How much work has Brian himself actually put into these albums (Gershwin, Disney)?

I mean, does Brian run around the studio showing the musicians how he wants the parts played? Does Brian orchestrate the music? Did he actually sit at a piano and write these parts out? Does he actually care about how these albums sound? What really goes on in the studio?

Deep in the back of our minds, I think we all ask ourselves these questions. I'll be honest: I want proof that Brian has had a hand in piecing together these albums; that he is orchestrating and composing. I am so used to his incredible 60s Wall-Of-Sound productions that I can't see his fingerprint on many of his latest works....it may be there - but between the SMiLE-esque jingles tacked into his latest Disney song*, and the nostalgic add-ons (My Farmers Daughter, WIBN*) to the Gershwin songs - it just doesn't sound like the Brian we are used to.

*does Brian come up with this stuff? Or do Jeff and Darian give Brian a basket of ideas and Brian picks the best ones?

I was under the impression that Paul Martens is Brian's Orchestrator.

I hear ya, and I suspect that most of us have had similar thoughts.  At some point in the future, the stories of these albums will probably be told in more detail by the participants. In the meantime, just be happy that BW is still making albums and take them for what they are.  Listen to them. If you like 'em, keep listening.  If not, stop listening.  I initially resisted BWRG, but now I actually enjoy it. Is it Pet Sounds or Smile or Today?  Of course not.  It's not even Wild Honey or Friends.  But Brian Wilson is 69 years old.    Did Frank Lloyd Wright have as much direct involvement in his architecture projects when he was an old man as he did when he was 25?  Or did he let his assistants take over some of the heavy lifting?  Maybe that's not a perfect analogy, but my point is that we need to cut the man some slack.  He's earned it.

rab2591 -- It's no secret. There's no conspiracy. The production process for the Gershwin album was well-known, and various band members and those close to them talked about it at length last year. An issue of ESQ was devoted to it.

Brian produced and arranged the album, instrumentally and vocally. Paul Mertens arranged the orchestral parts.

It's my understanding that Brian listened to a lot of Gershwin songs in preparation for the album and then actually made a sequence, on his own, of what he wanted to put on the album. He and Paul Mertens then spent a couple of weeks working on the arrangements for the songs at Brian's house.

When it came time for tracking sessions, almost all the musicians came in with a lot of gear, so Brian could instantaneously make changes if he wanted. They spent a couple of weeks doing the tracks. I spoke to Probyn Gregory at the time. The entire band was thrilled by the strength of the arrangements and Brian's level of excitement and participation.

When it came time for vocals, Brian apparently spent a lot of time on his own in the studio on his leads, working eight-hour days trying to get them right.

In terms of direct Brian influence on tracking and arranging the instrumental sessions, the Gershwin album had more than any Brian album since, probably, BW88.

(He was quite involved in TLOS too, of course, but the actual tracking sessions were based more on replicating the demos he had already recorded and produced than doing something radically different. Ditto for GIOMH and BWPS.)

What on earth are you referring to?

Thanks for the response, Wirestone. I've made similar inquiries before but didn't get an answer as detailed as yours. (and I'm not a subscriber to esq to i'm out of the loop on a lot - I really need to subscribe!).

I wasn't trying to imply a conspiracy, I'm just very unknowledgable in this area - your response cleared up a lot of questions I had.

As to your second response, the percussion in the beginning of the 'whistle while you work' mimics that of the percussion in Vega-Tables.

His image, the way he and his music are present are 100% this:

(http://www.beachboysband.net/BBBNEWS/Suncoverart.jpg)

And 0% this:

(http://i.pbase.com/o5/04/877304/1/129626104.roocF0Li.IMG_0005.jpg)

s'like they're trying to bury a big part of why I love his music. It's like he disappeared in 64 and came back in 2005, and nothing between then ever happened. Not the case, as we know. This cover, all the promotional photos and adverts for TLOS, any Beach Boys best of appearing in the last decaded, etc. - they're just boring surf-and-sun bullshit imo. So much of his presentation is the guy who was in the band that did "Fun Fun Fun", "Surfin' USA", and "Kokomo".

Good job guys, #77 already

Gotcha.

I don't mean to jump all over you or anything. And I DO think the band contributes to the arrangements and approach these days. No question. (Pretty sure, for instance, that the "Farmer's Daughter" thing in BWRG was Jeff's idea.)

But I also think that a lot of what we think of as the 1960s BW "sound" has to do with the studios and the players he had then, not to mention the engineering and mastering of a pre-digital age. I mean, his garage-rock recordings with the BBs (first album or two), sound very different from his Wrecking Crew sessions. And those sound different from the dreamy, Carl-influenced productions of the early 70s, which sound different from the raucous one man-band approach of Love You.

Basically, my impression over the years is that Brian is not an incredibly specific arranger -- even in the 60s (with the exception of some of the PS-Smile stuff, perhaps). He would get a big group together and work out what he wanted to hear, incorporating a lot of suggestions from the musicians present. If that group changed, his sound would change too. If he had to record it on his own, it changed again.

So yeah, he now works with a group of musicians who revere the mid to late 60s part of his work -- and who were assembled, in large part, to re-create it in concert. And he really digs it. (Probyn told me a couple of years ago that part of why Brian likes the band is that he doesn't _have_ to spell everything out for them all the time.) The music he oversees and creates therefore reflects that sound.

But yeah, the tradeoff is that he's not constantly pushing out into new directions. But I wonder how much BW really wants to do that these days.

Excellent post.

This really bothers me when people say this.  He's not imitating Vega-Tables, he's imitating BRIAN WILSON.  He does sh*t like that.  Have you heard Rio Grande?  Saturday morning in the city?  Brian likes odd percussive noises.  That's one of his things.  His Pet Sounds as you will.

Also like said above, Brian works with the band at hand, and lets them come up with stuff.  Most good producers do that, BTW. 

Why would you (pre)order a (cheese)burger when a big juicy steak is just around the corner?

Key of Disney is more like a light, fluffy appetizer or hors d'oeuvre.
Really just enough to whet the appetite, but nothing you'll remember after the entrée.

Or, would SMiLE be the desert?

I guess that's a thread all by itself.

I got a big appetite  :smokin

Having been born and raised in California (and still here) the Beach Boys (which means BW as much as anyone), Anaheim (Orange County) and Disney are all in one big juicy orange of a ball. Brian was no stranger to Disneyland - and my childhood memories are full of summer, Beach Boys and Disneyland all at the same time, because it was.

We have it all, a Woody, a surfboard, a beach and Mickey in the Sunset (we are on the West Coast).

Perfect.

I guess they could have gone all steampunk and done a Mickey with tats in a rusted out powerhouse, but Brian has never really looked all that good in studded leather, doc martins and piercings (at least to me).

They should've released this album like two months ago.

Agreed - it seems pretty stupid to release this a week before the huge Smile release, especially when we know it's been done since early summer.  Talk about getting swallowed up.

Totally agree. I don't know who comes up with these release dates, but I don't think it's a good strategy, even if terms of marketing. Maybe it's not the most important thing, but because of it both albums are most likely to underperform on the charts.

The album cover is quite cheesy. The Gershwin one was really nice, but here they kind of overcolored it.
The track listing is not a perfect one, but this "Whistle While You Work" song sounds really nice, so I'm not that anxious about it as I was when I first found out about it :)

Okay...how about this...ITKOD is the free mint they offer at the counter, and you grab one on the way in. TSS is the buffet -- because there will be so many tracks to listen to you won't be able to reasonably grab everything in one trip.

And Postcard from California is the stuffed feeling after

Or no, no, i got a good one. How about: In The Key of Disney is the fukking 2011 DISNEY album, and The Smile Sessions is a 5 CD box set of the fukking SMILE sessions.

That would be the logical answer

I don't know.   For many of us here, the timing seems really dumb.  The feeling for a lot of us is probably along the lines of "Hey, that's nice, but don't bother me. I'll be listening to my FIVE brand-spankin' new CDs of the freakin' Smile Sessions that week."

However, by piggybacking on the Smile tidal wave, ITKOD might generate more interest among the casual fans than it otherwise would have.  Every rock critic and his brother will be doing reviews of the Smile Sessions.  Smile is a legendary project, and it makes for a good story and one that is incredibly easy to write (Brian, Van Dyke, piano, sandbox, Mike Love, mysterious fires, breakdowns, 45 years, yada yada yada).  And a lot of those reviews are going to include an "Oh, by the way, Brian is still around and just released a little album of Disney songs."   And that will be enough to generate some sales.

Okay, but if Brian released the album two months ago, all the reviews would still say "oh by the way Brian has a new album out". Because two months isn't really that long in the grand scheme of things. but just long enough to not have it go up against Smile.

Meh. I'm not so thrilled about this release. Especially with all the SMiLE buzz. I'll get it... eventually... if ever.

Simple - Disney set the release date for ITKOD, while Capitol decided to f*** with Phil Cohen's head for a few months before settling on 11/1/11.

It has a bonus track "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes."

i like that song. 

Not the bonus track I'd have chosen, but hey ho (or High-Ho)...

Have to say I think it was a shame to have released GIOMH, a pretty horrid record, at more or less the same time as BWPS. Now I sort of feel the same about this re Smile. Meantime, I've avoided 'TLOS' and 'Gershwin' too - reckon I made the right choice.

You're missing out - Those records are much, much better than GIOMH

GIOMH was horrid the one time is listened to it. ;D Gershwin live is amazing!

Thanks for that info. Anyone know whether the UK site will offer the same exclusive version?

That's a good, classic, Tin Pan Alley song.

"I've avoided 'TLOS' and 'Gershwin' too - reckon I made the right choice."

Nah. You should get both. TLOS is at least half good as is the Gershwin. Both are light years better than GIOMH.  The good songs on there are destroyed by the production - just like Sweet Insanity (which destroys one of the same songs!)

Anyone who calls himsen a Brian Wilson fan and AVOIDS records the man puts out is insane. At least give it a whirl, you might like some of it. The Gershwin album is great sometimes. When I'm in the mood for it it's very satisfying to hear. Some real, new classics - Love Is Here To Stay, Nothing But Love, Someone To Watch Over Me, It Ain't Necessarily So, etc.... these have great vocals from Brian.

Am I alone here when I say that the end of TLOS always gives me goosebumps because it is so good?  :'(

all day
all day
roll around heaven
lucky old son
nothing to do
workin al lday
rollin rol,nwkdo kao
owooahwhhooo o
a work a work a workin in the sun all day
a work a work wa workdo the osun al lday

Yes, that end too.  :lol

I love the verses and chorus of Southern California, but that bridge type section 'whoa whoa it's magical' is a little lame for me - prefer it when they leave it out...but I still enjoy that song a lot anyway.

'Love songs, pretty girls, didn't want it to end...'

'Surfer silhouettes, the sun went into the sea...' there is a certain poignancy about it for sure.

I love the "who whoa" part. The way Brian sings "nodded off in the band room, woke up in history" is one of my favorite BW moments.

Nothing beats "Good Kind Of Love" for me - from what I've read, Brian wrote this all by himself....It's in my top favorite solo songs by BW.

same here, i've always loved that one and Forever she'll be my surfer girl.

Agreed.


Double agreed. The album is a treasure. Probably the single most artistically satisfying package of BW's solo career. (You must include the bonus tracks, though -- they're nearly all essential.)

Who the f*** avoids these records? I can't say I feel terribly sorry for those who haven't bothered with something like "Midnight's Another Day", the d00d's best song since the late 70s, out of ignorance.