The Smiley Smile Message Board

This year, he just appears to have an alt. mix of On Christmas Day. Underneath the album artwork....

http://www.brianwilson.com/christmas


Wonder if we'll get something else? I do like the idea of him releasing little xmas tidbits, but he hasn't done it in a while, right? According to his website, nowt in five years  :(

Wasn't there an incident where Brian released a free Christmas track and someone said it was crap on a messageboard, Brian read it and was really hurt? Was that the last free Christmas tune he released?

If the last one was "Chestnuts Roasting" in 2007, I'm going to have to agree, it's pretty bad.  If he had straight out sang it in his sweet mellow voice, it could have sounded great but trying to turn it into a rock song, bad idea.

Funny, because I heard that for the first time today and  thought he sung that really well! Sure, he ain't Nat King Cole, but then who is?

No, I think his voice sounded fine, it's the arrangement that sucked.

Honestly, I think Brian's done all he can when it comes to Christmas standards.

Given that his version of "The Christmas Song" (its actual title) is in no way shape or form a rock song, I have no idea what you're trying to say.

Anyway, that's not what people criticized him for anyway. IIRC it was the earlier a capella version of "Silent Night."

Finally, he did a Christmas thing just last year, which is shown on the very page everyone is linking to.

Gah.

Gah, I saw that video of Silent Night with the kids and somehow didn't process it was recent. More coffee, please  :thud

I think that alt mix was available when On Christmas Day was originally released on the website, but perhaps hasn't been seen again until now.

Thanks for that link! 

That clever cartoon made my day!   :lol

He is the bona fide Little St. Nick of music! 

The Man with All the Toys!  ;)

Sort of related..... I just listened to the All I Want for Christmas album and it really suffers from Brian's shouting/singing. He seems to have gotten better at that since that album but he still does the shouting off and on these days. Has anyone ever really figured that out? I think his solo career could have/would be more of a success if the singing was better. And he was/is capable of better. My guess is that it's not easy to get Brian to agree to performing at all, and the takes are not perfected as a result. He makes a cut and pretty much that's it, take it or leave it. Just like the live shows, he's ON or OFF. I get that for a live show but not the studio stuff. The shouting does not even work on the Little St. Nick redo let alone what are normally beautiful classics such as O Holy Night.

Yeah, Blueboarders are a bunch of dicks.

Guy rolls off the couch to record a little ditty just for fun and gives it to them for free and they return the favor by telling him how bad it is, that he shouldn't work with Styx, that a petition is being passed around which will force the rehiring of Bob Liszik.

Yeah....dicks.....I hope one of their "waves of love" washes those assholes out to sea.

That's really sad to hear.

Whenever there is a new BB/BW release I "torture" a friend of mine with it who is a big music fan. After TLOS he said, "Finally he's singing well!"

Years ago there was an anecdote someone played some shouted BW track in his car, and some passer by asked him, "Is that Ozzie?" :-D

Earlier this evening I decided to listen to some Christmas CDs I hadn't heard in a while and one of the CDs I pulled out was the "20 Christmas Stars" compilation from 2001, containing BW singing "On Christmas Day".  Bought the CD when it came out 11 years ago, and this Christmas season is probably the first time I've listened to it since then.  The BW song started out well, but as it continued, my reaction was, "This would have sounded so much better if BW didn't shout when singing many of the lines."  So, gotta totally agree with your comments above.  

It's  been awhile since I last listened to "What I Really Want for Christmas," so I just pulled out both the CD and LP to listen to tomorrow.  Don't think I've listened since the album came out, so I was surprised to discover that I purchased it when it was released in October 2005, seven long years ago.  Think I'll check out the LP version with my Pickering 625-DJ cartridge, since the combo of an LP and DJ cart may help to mellow out the shouting, albeit to a minor degree.

And, all that being said, Brian sounds a hell of a lot better when he forgoes the shouting while singing.

Somehow I never even knew "The Christmas Song" by Brian even existed until today...listening now, it sounds fine to me.

I listened again since yesterday (can't believe I called the album "all I want for christmas"......AGD must be sleeping) and the real problem is the "shouting" comes and goes throughout too many of the tracks. It's almost like he's about to lose pitch or key or something so he kind of yells a line or word. The overall LOUD voice he sings could be OK to a point, I also listened to John Denver's Christmas album and he gets really loud at the end of O Holy Night as well, but it does not have the harshness of Brian's version. It's just disappointing because I like the arrangements of the album.

Remember Brian's performance on Leno from the BWRG album. That was the shouting Brian I hear on the Christmas album. He was capable of sounding so much better.

The best Christmas song Brian's ever recorded in his solo career:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gBsL7gcKCU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gBsL7gcKCU)

I really like his God Rest Ye Merry arrangement.

Third it.  I was so glad this ended up on his Christmas album.

"Joy To The World" is probably my favorite, too. It would've been perfect if not for the repetitive dit-dit-it's. Joe Thomas has a way of making Brian sound good.

A close second for me is "Christmas Day". Brian does his Spector thing and the song really gets going. That song would work well live.

But, my favorite Brian solo Christmas moment is the tag to "The First Noel". Starting with that high note that Brian hits (it gets to me every time), followed by that cool, little instrumental break, and then followed by that wordless harmony to end the song. I repeat it over and over. It's stunning. Absolutely stunning.

I make a Christmas mix CD every year for my commute to work and the three BW tracks that consistently make the cut are "What I Really Want..." "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "O Holy Night."  I love the arrangements on all three.

That mix. is. amazing.


After obsessing over that video of him recording it, hearing just the track and vocals finished is efnhiwunjfweifwiefunwiuef (<- amazing)

Apparently the blootards aren't happy unless the big man is releasing Pet Sounds every time...f*** them.

Yeah, that's ridiculous. I'd love to slap the s*** out of some people.

Wait, I thought the criticism against the blueboard was that they liked everything Brian did and were total Brianistas. I agree that it's wrong to say something is crap on his messageboard, but ....

Well, to be fair, I'd say that "What I really want for christmas" is as close to a Pet Sounds christmas song I've ever heard, litelarly just bought the album FOR THAT SONG.

"Well, to be fair, I'd say that "What I really want for christmas" is as close to a Pet Sounds christmas song I've ever heard, litelarly just bought the album FOR THAT SONG"

Musically, it's one of his best solo pieces. It's just that it's a, uh, Christmas song...

About Silent Night:
   When Brian released Silent Night on his webpage, the previous years, he had released the excellent "Christmas Day", and then "Joy to the World" which was pretty awesome, so then he released "Silent Night" and a lot of fans criticised it.  So Brian (or Melinda doing her typing for Brian thingy) posted this on his website's forum in response to some of the critique:

"Come on Everyone.......It's Christmas....... Melinda told me what has been going on here and it is really sad and not at all what I intended to have happen when I started this cool site. When I recorded Silent Night the other day in the studio, it was just a cool little Christmas message to you guys. I am not sure why someone would judge my abilities by a simple little Christmas tune I sang to bring some love and Christmas cheer to my fans. Then I read that someone said they wouldn't kid themself into thinking I did it for the listening pleasure for the Blueboarders......I can't imagine what I have done to make you think that way......The most hurtful part of this entire event is that it now seems as though I am expected to show you if I still have it? That's crazy. What's even more scary is that some of you are now fighting over what I considered to be a Christmas card to my fans. It would be like me sending you a real Christmas card and having you return it and say it's not as good as the one I sent you last year or the year before. Why are you judging me? All I wanted to do it wish all of you a very Merry Christmas......and look what's happened. I would hope that the events of 9/11 would have taught us all that there are far more important issues than whether Brian Wilson still "has it". Let's please put all this behind us and try to love and understand one another not only during this holiday season but from this point forward. You guys have to know when you write things on this board that Melinda and I read them. Do not be hurtful to her and please respect me. For those of you who appreciated my holiday message........many thanks and for those who didn't, just throw the card away. Love and Mercy, Brian"

Reading this, makes me hurt even more for Brian. Poor Guy.

Yeah, I worded it wrong.  I didn't mean he turned it into a rock song but he upped the tempo which I think makes it sound awkward.