The Smiley Smile Message Board

2nd 'solo' LP by Nelson Bragg: We Get What We Want. Check it out, it's pretty cool.

I don't know his first LP, but this one's nice enough. Some power pop, some other influences, and even a cover of "Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long".  :)

Maybe it's available at BBs shows, I don't know.


(http://c3.cduniverse.ws/CDUCoverArt/Music/Large/38/8781638.jpg)

Got a copy of the CD a few weeks ago - it is a terrific upbeat powerful album, with a great production job. Highly recommended.

I don't think it's available at BB shows, but it's very, very good, as you'd expect. It also features a lot of familiar LA pop scene names (including Nick and Probyn - I *think* some other members of Brian's band are on tracks too, but I don't have my copy in front of me to check). For those who know them, it's very like The Now People (one of the several bands Nelson and Probyn both play in -- between the two of them they're on about a dozen of my favourite records of the last decade or so), but with a little less Bacharach/Paul Williams influence and a bit more mainstream guitar-pop style.

I love it more & more with every spin. It's a keeper.   :3d
And yes, Walusko und Gregory are on it - don't know who else, though - I only got the mp3 version.


Again: Bragg's new CD is highly recommended!  :)

It's sort of available at Beach Boys shows, but not at the concession stands/tables. Nelson has been going out into the ticket line crowds, talking to fans and selling copies of his album directly to them. That's how I got my copy -- nicely done and I recommend it.

I only have his first album, Day Into Night, which is pretty good.

Just checked, the other names I recognised were Gary Griffin and Evie Sands.

But Bragg does a *lot* of the playing on the album himself -- he's credited as playng guitar, drums, percussion, drone, piano, mellotron, pipe organ, vibes, bass, piano, banjo, stylophone and bells.

I like Nelson's new album, too. I don't think it sounds like The Now People at all, though. (The Now People album is brilliant, pure pop for now people!)

Wow, another Probyn Gregory right there.  :)

Most professional musicians know how to play most instruments. I wouldn't be surprised if every member of Brian's band knew how to play guitar, drums, bass, and keyboard.

(and piano, mellotron, pipe organ, and piano all require more or less technique)

Not so much in the songwriting, but in the general feel and ambience of the record. Songwriting/arrangement-wise it's more straight powerpop, but there's a sonic feel to it that reminded me of that album, in ways I can't really describe.

This is most assuredly not true.

(It depends, for example, on how you define "professional musicians" -- most classical players, I would wager, mostly know the instrument they play. Probably some piano, too, for theory purposes.)

The Now People was more Steve Stanley than anyone else! Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Oh, absolutely -- Steve Stanley was responsible for almost all the songwriting, lead vocals and arrangements on that album, just like e.g. Dave Ponak is on the Mello Cads album that Probyn and Nelson also played on, and I wouldn't want anyone to think otherwise. I just think there's a sonic similarity between the two albums.

It's not that unusual for songwriters and producers to have a passing knowledge of many instruments. But the distance between competence and expertise is much farther than most people realize.

Not in Milwaukee. :(

rock musicians. especially sidemen.