The Smiley Smile Message Board

Finally Got this done...

After Imaginations (1998) Brian began to tour full time again. My thoughts of seeing anyone from the Beach Boys live at this point was getting nothing more than the obvious Beach Boys hits. Brian and his revamped band changed that. Members of indie band The Wondermints became Brian's new 'wrecking crew'. Not only did they do a lot of deep cuts, but they performed the entire Pet Sounds album beginning in 2000. Than in 2004, Brian announced that he would be taking the abandoned follow up, SMiLE on the road in 2004. The SMiLE tour has to be a highlight of my concert life! In the midst of this, Brian and his band recorded Gettin In Over My Head. The first 'original' album by Brian since Imaginations, but several of the songs were reworked from songs he had left unreleased from the 80s and 90s. The best thing about this album is the production, greatly helped by Brian's backing band. The worst thing about this album is, sadly, Brian's voice. His heart doesn't seem into it. The SMiLE tour seemed to give him more inspiration, but that would not be apparent til his next album. Another highlight is the guests on this album include Elton John (How Could We Still Be Dancin), Carl Wilson (Soul Searchin), Eric Clapton (City Blues) and Paul McCartney (A Friend Like You). I never thought a song with Brian and Paul would be so cheesy! Over all, though, if you get passed Brian's vocals, the music is excellent and a lot more interesting moments than with the previous album, Imaginations.


GETTIN IN OVER MY HEAD (June 2004)

1. How Could We Still Be Dancin? (B.Wilson/J.Thomas)     8
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6HY_tGvo1g

2. Soul Searchin (B.Wilson/A.Paley)                                         7
3. You've Touched Me (B.Wilson/S.Kalinich)                           5
4. Gettin In Over My Head (B.Wilson/A.Paley)                          6
5. City Blues (B.Wilson/S.Bennett)                                            6
6. Desert Drive (B.Wilson/A.Paley)                                            5
7. A Friend Like You (B.Wilson/S.Kalinich)                              4
8. Make a Wish (B.Wilson)                                                          7
9. Rainbow Eyes (B.Wilson)                                                       7
10. Saturday Morning in the City (B.Wilson/A.Paley)              7
11. Fairy Tale (B.Wilson/D.Foster)                                            5
12. Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel (B.Wilson)               6
13. The Waltz (B.Wilson/V.Parks)                                              9
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Gy_8cZa2s

ALBUM AVERAGE:                                                                       6.3

You are a very generous man.  :)

There is a horrible stench that surrounds this album even before we get onto talking about the music. If Imagination is considered to be more Joe Thomas`s album than Brian`s, then this feels it belongs more to Brian`s management at the time (probably David Leaf and Melinda). The idea of including the celebrity guests (and Robbie Williams and Sting who declined invitations - "He probably doesn`t even know who I am." RW) to shift CDs was never going to be enough to sell this steaming turd.

The music is ok but no better than that. Poorly mixed and A Friend Like You is the only one that I don`t know of as being an oldie.

The vocals show that Brian couldn`t have cared less and they all sound like they were recorded in one take. On Soul Searchin his voice on the `Why oh Why` section is painful to listen to and he couldn`t even be bothered to replace Mike`s bass vocals. I remember a review at the time saying that it sounded like he`d turned into an alien on the `be bop mnwamnah` section of The Waltz. Fairytale is similarly dire.

The lyrics are also abysmal. Even VDP`s lyrics for The Waltz. God they are terrible, but so are two references (?!?) to getting things cranking!?! Kalinich`s lyrics are also very weak. They sound completely inappropriate when sung by Brian.

One of the saddest aspects of this album is that some of the Sweet Insanity songs actually sound worse than they did when Brian was being brainwashed and drugged to the eyeballs during Landy`s tenure...

Don`t Let her Know She`s an Angel is pleasant but it`s not enough to redeem this rancid, maggot ridden monstrosity which should be buried in a New Mexico landfill.

1. How Could We Still Be Dancin? (B.Wilson/J.Thomas)     8
2. Soul Searchin (B.Wilson/A.Paley)                                         7
3. You've Touched Me (B.Wilson/S.Kalinich)                           7
4. Gettin In Over My Head (B.Wilson/A.Paley)                          10
5. City Blues (B.Wilson/S.Bennett)                                            4
6. Desert Drive (B.Wilson/A.Paley)                                            7 1/2
7. A Friend Like You (B.Wilson/S.Kalinich)                              6 1/2
8. Make a Wish (B.Wilson)                                                          4 1/2
9. Rainbow Eyes (B.Wilson)                                                       5 1/2
10. Saturday Morning in the City (B.Wilson/A.Paley)              6 1/2
11. Fairy Tale (B.Wilson/D.Foster)                                            6
12. Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel (B.Wilson)               7 1/2
13. The Waltz (B.Wilson/V.Parks)                                              4

MTR - I'm probably in the minority here.  I don't think it is a bad album and actually really like about half of it.  About five.

How Could We Still Be Dancin'? 1 - think that this one, should have been the title. And, Sir Elton's fire!

Soul Searchin' - 2 - The Voice - Carl Wilson!

The Waltz - 3 (finally some "concrete" Parks imagery! ) - hilarious! Always gives me a giggle! I'd have loved to have watched them come up with the lyrics. I bet there were some goofy exchanges.

Fairy Tale - 4 like the yearning quality, a little retro, but find it cool. Doesn't seem to be 5:29!

A Friend Like You - 5 - of course Sir Paul's vocals! - analogous to Mike's Pisces Brothers

And, I don't remember any promotion with this one. Maybe someone else is familiar with this? Thanks for your time.

I bet there weren`t.  ;)

Brian (or his management) probably sent VDP a tape of the old music and he wrote the words. That`s certainly how Tony Asher`s collaborations wiith Brian of a few years earlier happened anyway.

"After Imaginations (1998) Brian began to tour full time again. My thoughts of seeing anyone from the Beach Boys live at this point was getting nothing more than the obvious Beach Boys hits. Brian and his revamped band changed that. Members of indie band The Wondermints became Brian's new 'wrecking crew'. Not only did they do a lot of deep cuts, but they performed the entire Pet Sounds album beginning in 2000. Than in 2004 2003, Brian announced that he would be taking the abandoned follow up, SMiLE on the road in 2004. The SMiLE tour has to be a highlight of my concert life! In the midst of this 2003, Brian and his band recorded Gettin In Over My Head. The first 'original' album by Brian since Imaginations, but several of the songs were reworked from songs he had left unreleased from the 80s and 90s. The best thing about this album is the production, greatly helped by Brian's backing band. The worst thing about this album is, sadly, Brian's voice. His heart doesn't seem into it. The SMiLE tour seemed to give him more inspiration, but that would not be apparent til his next album. Another highlight is the guests on this album include Elton John (How Could We Still Be Dancin), Carl Wilson (Soul Searchin), Eric Clapton (City Blues) and Paul McCartney (A Friend Like You). I never thought a song with Brian and Paul would be so cheesy! Over all, though, if you get passed past Brian's vocals, the music is excellent and a lot more interesting moments than with the previous album, Imaginations."

Fixed that for you. BTW, it's been reliably reported that the album was rejected by everyone it was offered to in fall 2003 and was likely only released because it was part of the BWPS package. Rightly so. The first time I heard it I thought "damn, this sucks" and 10 years later I have no reason to revise that opinion (and in this I'm not alone).

You had this bilge-fest of an album to comment on and you chose to correct somebody`s English???  ;)

Even if there weren't, Nicko, who else but a baby-boomer - BB 1st gen, would use the terms?

High school Cotillion

Angora sweater...every girl had one or wanted one.

A body you'd kill for...

She up and said I'm a dancer...don't tell me you're a Cancer

And I do really love the strings and waltz time. It's a tribute to a time when "courtship" was not such an informal thing.

JMHO  ;)


  

Nope - corrected the errors... and then, granted, added my views on this unfortunate blot on Brian's career.

AGD, didn't you make a joke about GIOMH in your book?

This came out after AGD`s book didn`t due to it being delayed (God knows why as it certainly wasn`t because Brian wanted to take extra care with the recordings).

Alas, no. It wasn't released in time. Shame, I'd have had a field day with that sucker.

The board should start a kickstarter campaign to get an updated version of your book. :-D

I'd love to see your track-by-track appraisal of that particular album.

However, in defense of GIOMH, it did serve one very useful function: it made the lackluster singing and production on BWPS sound brilliant by comparison.

Indeed. I do remember that AGD promised (when he knew he wasn`t going to be able to include it in the book) he would write said appraisal and post it online as soon as GIOMH was released.

Of course, that was before he heard it!

Be something like this:

Sucks.

Sucks.

Really sucks.

Sucks, but not so much.

An offense against music... and so on.

Review:

This album is shite.

Thank you for being my editor :)   I still thing the backing music is well done on this one. But Brian's voice is hard to listen to.

It seems my take on Imagination vs Gettin in Over My Head is backward from most. That's OK. I tell it the way I hear it :)

 This album is worse than LOOKING BACK WITH LOVE.  Compared to either GOING PUBLIC is a masterpiece.

In general it's hard for me to be negative, I don't really remember things that I don't like, I tend to remember things that I enjoy.  So I remember the good parts of this album... there's not enough there for me to dig it out and play it very often.  I have it in my cd case in my car, but I probably haven't played it in a couple years. 

Songs like 'You Touched Me"... yeah... it's lightweight and it's honestly not very good but it has parts that are GREAT.  Brian's entire career has been like this.  Ultimately, songs like this represent his commercial output.  Some bad, some good... but the good is better than most people are capable of.  The end of the song where he's singing the old-school doo wop harmony round is just fantastic.  LITERALLY, if he would have just looped that for 4 minutes it would have been better than the finished song. 

I really liked "The Waltz" even though i'm talking smack about VDP in another thread.  It's really good.  I wish Brian would have done more of this stuff.  I've always felt Brian's biggest weakness was his lyrics. 

"How Can We Still Be Dancin" is pretty bad.  I love Elton and love Brian but I just can't get into it.  I don't even understand the sentiment.  Brian doesn't dance.   When you write a song with lyrics that you don't even mean, what the hell is that?  No wonder it didn't turn out right.  "Brian, write a song!" "Yes Mam".   This is what happens.

Fairy Tale is about the corniest sh*t ever but man I really like it.  I'm a sucker for the harmony thing he does.  The first chorus he has two part harmony... second chorus three parts... third chorus four parts and there's this little hole he's left in it the whole time so he can go "BABY, BABY, I LOVE UUUUUU"  In his best Ronnie Spector impersonation.  It's a great song.  Nobody will ever make a big deal out of it or remember it, but he did a really good job on it and I think it represents that era of his career very well.

"Saturday Morning in the City" I really like.  I like how he throws his ego to the wind and sings the "Boys and Girls" verse in falsetto.... a funny falsetto... for the boys and girls.  I'll bet his two little girls love that song.

It's an album you probably have to be a rose colored fan to enjoy.  Luckily I'm a rose colored fan.

I like "You Touched Me."  It sounds like something went wrong during the mixing so it's not all it could be, but I still like it.

The opening vocal harmonies on You`ve Touched Me are truly horrible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgLsW_CK8hI

Ouch. I can`t believe he was allowed to release this album in this state.

So I guess all the surf songs Brian wrote aren't good either eh?  I think you put to much emphasis on lyrics
Or are you being sarcastic I can't tell :P

The lyrics would have made some sense if it had been a Beach Boys song. They would still be crap though.  :)

Up to this point in his solo career, Brian was batting 1.000 in my book. Loved the 1988 solo album - yeah, it sounds dated now, but in 88, it seemed like the best BB's related album since Sunflower. I didn't have high expectations for IJWMFTT - just remakes of older songs, so I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked these low key, understated arrangements of BW classics. OCA took a few listens to get into, and then it became another favorite. Same for Imagination. So, based on that, I expected that I would love GIOMH. I played it at home, played it in the car, and although there were some nice moments, it just never got to me the way a BW solo album always had in the past. Couldn't put my finger on what it was that was missing, but it left me cold.

Out of those first three albums -- BW88, Imagination, and GIOMH -- I prefer everything *surrounding* Brian on this one.

The arrangements seem more sympathetic to the songs, as opposed to the attempts to shoehorn them into '80s pop or '90s AC on the previous two albums.  Musically I think it's a strong album for the Brian Wilson band -- using the other band voices, as on Desert Drive, would have given it a hell of a boost.

The previous two albums may well have spackled over the cracks in Brian's performance more thoroughly -- but the result feels like a slick and soulless polish.  Here they're letting him all hang out.  And yeah, a bunch of the vocals make me wince -- but they're not as chilling for me as the every-rough-edge-filed-away-but-he-still-sounds-damaged overproduction we got before.  This felt threadbare but more honest... and because I could believe in this Brian, I was impressed when the next few albums from the band kept a similar style but showed such a steady improvement in his singing; it felt like genuine recovery, in a way which going straight from Imagination to Smile wouldn't have.

Me, I'd love to hear a recording of "Your Imagination" or "Melt Away" as performed by the band live, in arrangements more like GIOMH or his later albums...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

It's a good album, I don't consider as sucky as some of you do. However, I don't like Rainbow Eyes much at all. And I don't like the lyrics to The Waltz. But I like Soul Searching (my fave from the album), Saturday Morning In The City (fun spirited and catchy), How Could We Still Be Dancing (I think it's a fun tune) and City Blues. There's definitely some mediocre moments (A Friend Like You could've been better I guess). But I don't hate this album. I also don't hate the album cover, which I understand most fans don't like. Whatever.

I swear on The Waltz Brian is reading the words off the page for the first time as he sings them.

That`s the way it sounds to me too.

When I mentioned some of the lyrics being inappropriate for Brian to sing, the words to The Waltz certainly fit in with that. He sounds like he hasn`t got a clue what he is saying.

To me, the vocals on Rainbow Eyes and Make a Wish are horrible.  You've Touched Me and Fairytale also has some bad vocals in it to.  I don't think the whole thing is terrible though.  Songs that I like on the album are:

Gettin' In Over My Head
Desert Drive
City Blues
Saturday Morning In The City

I can find things in the following that I like:
How Can We Still Be Dancing
Soul Searchin' - Carl
You've Touched Me - after the intro
Don't Let Her Know
A Friend Like You

Songs I always skip, and I don't skip anything on any other of his solo releases:
The Waltz
Rainbow Eyes
Make A Wish
Fairytale

Did Brian even write the lyrics? And why would it make a difference if it was the Beach Boys? To me HCWSBD is a catchy rocker in the vein of Let Us Go On this Way. Not as good, but a similar feeling. In that song they sing about sitting in class. None of them were still in highschool anymore. The "dancing, dancing" reminds me of "God please let us go on this way"  Also, I bet he dances a lot more than he's surfed!

I would add "A Friend Like You" to that list, which is unfortunate because I thought the song had potential...

I`ve no idea if Brian wrote all or some of them.

The reason I said it would have made more sense as a Beach Boys tune is quite simple. Several of the group`s songs have been retro things talking about surfin`, cruisin` or dancin` back in the day.

The lyrics, `How can we still be dancin` after all these years?` are typical of the retro crap (Still cruisin` after all of these years!!!) that the group have been coming out with for decades.

The lyrics about `How can we still be friendly...` and `How can we still be laughing...` would doubtless have been seen as references to the group`s turmoils etc.

It wouldn`t have stopped the lyrics from being crap though anyway as I said.

The lyrics on Love You are crappy too. I still love the album.

for me all the Sweet Insanity and Andy Paley remakes on the cd were a let down compared to the original versions, especially when they got rid of that "wall of sound" thing going with The AP recordings, I hope one day he does one more wall of sound cd in both stereo and mono just for kicks..BTW Mono seems like it has been making a comeback lately .. also the production on the cd is too loud and "Grating" to my ears, especially with headphones, it hurts my ears..does everything HAVE to be so loud nowadays?? jeez... :lol

For The Waltz, I'd say they sound like a Southern Gent, over 65, (Parks) with the "cotillion" reference and the rest one of that 65+ age, as those terms were in the common word-base of that early baby boomer gen.  Those are not lyrics of Gen-X.  ;)

1. How Could We Still Be Dancin? (B.Wilson/J.Thomas)  - starts well, the poor. EJ's vocal is awful.
2. Soul Searchin (B.Wilson/A.Paley)     - okay but prefer the Paley/BW version
3. You've Touched Me (B.Wilson/S.Kalinich) - awful
4. Gettin In Over My Head (B.Wilson/A.Paley)     - see track two
5. City Blues (B.Wilson/S.Bennett)   - don't mind this
6. Desert Drive (B.Wilson/A.Paley)    - does nothing for me
7. A Friend Like You (B.Wilson/S.Kalinich)  - awful
8. Make a Wish (B.Wilson)    - awful
9. Rainbow Eyes (B.Wilson)      - awful version                                               
10. Saturday Morning in the City (B.Wilson/A.Paley)   - cute and silly
11.  Fairy Tale (B.Wilson/D.Foster)       - awful                                     
12. Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel (B.Wilson)    -Ruins a great song
13. The Waltz (B.Wilson/V.Parks) - sucks

There are about four good songs on here which are ruined by the arrangement and the production. There are another couple that are okay.

@ Smilein Ed H

Brian thought EJ's vocal was fabulous.

For years, I have never been able to put my finger on exactly why I dislike this album. I'm guessing it is a little bit of everybody's complaints thus far.

It may be bad but how could anything be as bad as looking Back With Love/ Just the sheer cheesiness of it is mind boggling.

What if a video for a Friend Like You had been made styled after this classic?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJdW5INse9Y

A small history lesson:

1. How Could We Still Be Dancin? (B.Wilson/J.Thomas)  - originally recorded post-Imagination.
2. Soul Searchin (B.Wilson/A.Paley) - almost entirely the original track.
3. You've Touched Me (B.Wilson/S.Kalinich) - new
4. Gettin In Over My Head (B.Wilson/A.Paley) - basic track recorded 1998
5. City Blues (B.Wilson/S.Bennett)  - hails from circa 1982, although this is a re-recording
6. Desert Drive (B.Wilson/A.Paley)  - recorded fall 2002
7. A Friend Like You (B.Wilson/S.Kalinich)  - new
8. Make a Wish (B.Wilson) - re-recording of Sweet Insanity track
9. Rainbow Eyes (B.Wilson) - as above                                             
10. Saturday Morning in the City (B.Wilson/A.Paley) - pretty much the original recording.
11.  Fairy Tale (B.Wilson/D.Foster) - re-recording of Sweet Insanity track                                 
12. Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel (B.Wilson) - song dates from circa 1979 or so.
13. The Waltz (B.Wilson/V.Parks) - new... and yes, it's awful on every level.

Can you tell us some more about the 1979 date for Don't Let Her Know?/ I like the song and had thought it originated with Sweet Insanity (though I dislike that version too!).

And about Elton's vocals... They are awful. He sounds like a pub singer (cue Vic Reeves). I think his voice went a long time ago. I guess BW must have liked them or he wouldn't have used them, but then again, who knows when it comes to this album.

Surely You`ve Touched Me and The Waltz aren`t entirely new...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ODIRDJZbWQ

Brian had some depressing interviews when he was trying to promote that album. Maybe he was depressed around that time and that made the album bad, or the bad album made him depressed, or something.

Correct - that'll teach me to do this stuff top of my head late at night.  ;D

GIOMH is absolutely awful.

I have been on this board for over 5 years and this is the first time I've seen AGD make a mistake! Makes me happy :)

Maybe the album could have been salvaged if they'd recorded it with just synth, bass and drums, a la Love You?

The whole thing just sounds "off".

Brian is a little 'off', that's what I love about him.

Brian's vocals are pitchy on it. He should have used Autotune! >:D

1. How Could We Still Be Dancin'? (B.Wilson/J.Thomas)   10 (the best track of the album, great tandem of 2 of my favorites)
2. Soul Searchin' (B.Wilson/A.Paley)                            7 (I grew to like it eventually, glad that Brian sings bridge here, not Carl entirely as in the MIC v-n)
3. You've Touched Me (B.Wilson/S.Kalinich)                 9 (dig the arrangements on this one + the beautiful intro)
4. Gettin' In Over My Head (B.Wilson/A.Paley)              7,5 (better v-n, better vocs)
5. City Blues (B.Wilson/S.Bennett)                             6 (give this rating mainly for the chorus, not a Clapton fan)
6. Desert Drive (B.Wilson/A.Paley)                             10 (great upbeat number, maybe my 2nd favorite)
7. A Friend Like You (B.Wilson/S.Kalinich)                    7,5 (very nice but there's sth. about Paul's responses that sound like they were cut-'n'-pasted, very unnatural voice)
8. Make a Wish (B.Wilson)                                        8 (another grower, the drumming gives an edge to it)
9. Rainbow Eyes (B.Wilson)                                       9,5 (love this song in any incarnation, good example of Brian's magic, that he still has 'it' in him)
10. Saturday Morning in the City (B.Wilson/A.Paley)      10 (I wish it lasted much longer than near 3 minutes is all I can say)
11. Fairy Tale (B.Wilson/D.Foster)                              8 (such amazing harmonies, the way Brian sings "Ever after, ever after" is so charming and I really like the guitars)
12. Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel (B.Wilson)         7 (stunning overall, but there are moments here & there I'm not keen on) 
13. The Waltz (B.Wilson/V.Parks)                              9 (fun stuff; say what you will, I absolutely like Brian's slow vocalizing; the fiddle outro is great!)

In short, I'm in the league of few who like this record.

Wow, those are some high marks. Interesting how people's taste are so different. I think it's solid. Just not ad high marks as yours. Your numbers almost put it in classic album territory.

For me -

1. How Could We Still Be Dancin'?    
7/10 - A grower for me, good fun

2. Soul Searchin'            
8/10  - Love both versions, but Brian's over-shouty bridge part on this version lets it down imo. Carl sounding as great as ever      

3. You've Touched Me                                
7/10 - Would get more but for the dodgy vocal intro

4. Gettin' In Over My Head            

9/10 - A classic song in either version

5. City Blues                                                          
7/10 - A cool, rare heavy rocking track for Brian

6. Desert Drive                                                    
6.5/10 - Ok, but a bit generic early BB 'car song' throwback to me and thus really needs a Mike Love lead vocal to me  :-D

7. A Friend Like You        
6/10 - Pleasant, but very disappointing considering it's Brian & Paul, weak   music and lyrics, Paul doesn't really sound into it either, I think he knows it's not that great too. No wonder he passed on Brian's idea of a Brian/ Paul collab album. Just sounds awkward/ forced to me

8. Make a Wish
8/10 - Very nice and romantic combo of music and words

9. Rainbow Eyes
8/10 - Again really nice, but some weak lyrics

10. Saturday Morning in the City            
8/10 - Charming, shows solo Brian still has it in him in the quirky melody dept

11. Fairy Tale                        
 7/10 - Nice, sounds the most like the Imagination album to me, also bit too similar to Make a Wish for me, bit too much ‘mush’ on second half of this album

12. Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel    
8/10 - Touching, good lead vocal from Brian, almost a classic song imo, even with the key change  ;D

13. The Waltz      
7.5/10 -  Musically very good, also love the fiddle outro. VDP's lyrics for this just don't suit Brian, too cynical for Brian’s ‘persona’


I loved this album when it came out, it was my first proper exposure to solo Brian. I've always loved the 'organic' sound and arrangements on this album. I agree that on some tracks, Brian should have put more work into the lead vocals and the vocal intro to You've Touched Me should never have been released in that state. A Friend Like You aside and maybe one too many 'romantic' songs in the second half, they're all good/ very good/ great songs (esp the title track and Soul Searchin'). Had he worked harder on the leads and used his band for all the backing vox, I think this would be a great little record and would almost approach BW 88 in quality, if not TLOS.

I've never understood the apparent very negative concensus on this board about this album. I believe there were rumours at the time that Brian wasn't into the project, hence the occasional less than stellar vocals (knowing his long term history, I feel that had he really not been into it, he would have shut down, withdrawn into himself and not co-operated. Also, he was a big boy when he made this album and we should allot him with responsibility for his own actions more, I feel, but that's another issue). It also seems that some prefer the 'original' versions of many of these tracks (and this is coming from someone who LOVES the Wilson/ Paley material and thinks Sweet Insanity is a decent record let down by the 'production' and a coupla dodgy tracks). Brian was clearly in a creative 'dry patch' around the early 2000s, so he and his people did what they could using mostly slightly older material. If those songs hadn't been previously bootlegged so widely, I wonder what some fans would have thought of this album when it was released, without the 'originals' to compare them with. Guess we'll never know.

Overall, I think GIOMH is a fine album, hence why I've typed all this spiel about it. Coming at it as I did at the time with no background knowledge of the origin of the songs and no interest in BB online fandom, I really enjoyed it, and am still fond of it :) .

Great cover by Peter Blake too.

I can only speak for myself, but this was the first Brian Wilson solo album that I bought 'new' (that is, it was the first album he released, or for that matter the first new Beach Boys related major release, that came out after I became a fan) as it was with you.  I had never heard the Paley sessions, never heard any Sweet Insanity bootlegs, nor any earlier versions of any of the songs on here.  There were a few tracks that I liked at that time (if I recall correctly, they were "Soul Searchin'," "You Touched Me," "Gettin' in Over My Head," and "Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel"), but by and large I found the album embarrassing.  It's true that my opinion of it has gotten even worse since hearing the earlier, superior versions of those tracks that I did like, I didn't need to hear the kick-ass version of "Desert Drive" from the Paley sessions to know that the one on GIOMH was embarrassingly bad.  From my own experience, I can say that there are reasons to dislike this album without having superior versions of the songs to compare them with, and I'm not convinced that the album's reception would have been substantially better among hardcore Beach Boys/BW fans even if none of them had ever heard the earlier versions of these songs.

Brian sounds truly on autopilot on this album.

I don't get the hate for A Friend Like You. Brian's vocal is bad but the song itself is pretty good.. a simple sentiment but really nice melody. That tends to be my style of music...

I wasn't being sarcastic, sarcasm is the lowest form of humour :)

I loved all the surf songs... but Brian didn't really write any of them, right?  Plus, Brian hanging out at the beach is a hell of a lot more believeable than Brian and Melinda dancing around their house. 

I thought it was more of him trying to be funny.  Purposefully trying to make it sound ridiculous.  I really like the song.

Back

At

My

High

School

Ca

Till

Yunnnnn

Another problem with it is it sounds like a collection of recordings, as compared to an album.  All the songs don't have to have the same theme or be a concept album or anything, but on this album some of the songs have a different production style, some of the vocals sound like sh*t, some sound great, they were recorded at different times, I think some of the songs he worked on for years (cut the backing track then the vocal years later).  The whole thing just sounds like.... leftover night in the refrigerator.

Exactly what he was going for. I would say this one, Soul Searchin' and City Blues are the best tracks on here.

My take on the Sweet Insanity vs released versions... I like them both. I feel that Sweet Insanity and even BW 88, have a retro production style to them. The released versions have a more authentic sound to them. Not sure what I'd say about Imaginations. Not quite retro, not quite authentic. Maybe that's why I don't care for it as much.

Everything about this album feels just plain awkward, beginning with the cover art.

Gettin' In Over My Head should've been a good album, maybe even a great album. It had a lot going for it. But, like all Brian Wilson solo albums, the potential and hype turned ultimately into disappointment.

They put 13 songs on this album; real songs, not those linking spoken-word distractions. And, if you look at the tracklisting, there's some good stuff on there. I don't really see any clunkers that stand out; at least I see the potential in all the songs. As far as Sweet Insanity is concerned, whether you like that (unreleased) album or not, they picked out the good songs. The only one that, to me, is glaringly omitted is "Someone To Love". Wasn't that mature or sophisticated enough for the solo Brian Wilson?

Then you have the legends - McCartney, Clapton, and Elton. Do we really realize the greatness assembled there? Paul McCartney - Eric Clapton - Elton John. With a few exceptions (Dylan, maybe Stevie Wonder, Springsteen) does it get much bigger than that? A Brian Wilson/Paul McCartney DUET!!!!!! An Eric Clapton guitar-driven track? Elton John, who worships Brian....What a waste of talent. How'd that happen? So disappointing. A massive blown opportunity.

Dead horse beating time....Gettin' In Over My Head, more than any other BW solo album, is an example why Brian Wilson's solo music comes up short and why his solo music would've benefited tremendously with input from The Beach Boys. Brian Wilson needs a producer, it's that simple. And, it's been that way for a very long time. He also needs The Beach Boys' voices. Brian Wilson's voice is not good enough to carry 13 songs, 13 diverse songs. There are certain songs that Brian can handle, and other songs that would be better handed over to somebody else to sing. The key phrase is "would be better". It's so frustrating....

Well, usually, when I rate an album track-by-track, I do so not globally, like "10 marks is 10 marks even in Africa", only by merits within each individual album. Definitely don't classify GIOMH as Pet Sounds-2.

Re the cover, I think it's good too. The same guy who made Sgt. Pepper worked on the cover art of Brian's record - that's cool, right?

I absolutely love the song "Fairy Tale" from this album.

I agree, the cover is cool. Maybe I should've talked about all of them in my reviews. That would help me when I struggle with what to say. But on that point, GIOMH had the best cover to date. TLOS was even better.

You caught me on the last bit - I totally love the cover of TLOS! My favorite fruit is oranges & my favorite color is orange, so that's 2 good qualities in 1! Flowers ain't bad thing either (kind of). You should definitely discuss the cover art if you've nothing substantial to talk of.

I think by far the best cover art of any post-BB Brian album was Orange Crate Art. Worst would be the Christmas record. To me, TLOS is somewhere in between, it looks a bit unfinished.

Well if Orange Crate Art was Brian's album I would have reviewed it. Quick points on that. Great cover! I will have to pull it out to see if I like it better than TLOS. As for the music, the title song is awesome. Others are ok but don't stick out to me.

I just don't understand the hate.... how could we still be dancing, soul searchin', city blues, the waltz... and several decent other songs.

I don't see what more people can expect. There's seriously good stuff here.  I feel overall Imagination is solid solo effort too.

I miss when Brian would confine his songs to 2-3 minutes. One thing, among many, that I deplore about GIOMH is that most of the songs on the album are over 4 minutes long.


^this. It's why songs like "Beaches in Mind" are so corny to me - because its unbelievable that these guys are actually out there surfing in the South Bay. Whereas the life suite is a MASTERPIECE because you can feel in the music, vocals, and lyrics that Brian actually means it. He's scared about dying, scared about life - he can translate this mindset to music so well that we feel it when we play those last few songs on TWGMTR.

A lot of the raw material is pretty good.  The final product is pretty bad.

I really liked Desert Drive done live by the Brian Wilson band.  I'll bet a few of the other songs could have been given a nice treatment by the live band as well.

Yeah, the title track is the overall set's definite highlight. This may be my favorite Van Dyke Parks album (together with Discover America perhaps). Brian's singing is a bit weird on this record but still...

Good point.  Which is why I love albums like Love You and MIU and Adult/Child.

Hey Brian, what's this song about?
Johnny Carson.

Johnny Carson?
Yeah... I was up last night, watching TV, and was like 'holy sh-t' man.  Johnny f-ckin Carson is the man, you know?!

Yeah sure, I guess.  What's the title?
I don't know...

How about 'Johnny Carson?'
OMG Yes!


Actual conversation.  I sh-t you not.   :-D

Umm... that the artist could be bothered enough to sing competently ? It's often been said that if Brian really doesn't want to do something, he'll sabotage it. Like here.

Brian made this album for you, RangeRover. I'm glad somebody likes it. I don't hate it, but it sure doesn't match up to the albums before it.

The two highlighted tracks were recorded in, respectively, fall 2002 and the mid/late 90s. Just sayin'...  :-D

...I really don't get why you keep making such a point about that song being recorded in fall 2002 when the others were recorded around the end of 2003.  In an era where artists routinely take a couple of years to pull together an album, and projects like "Lucky Old Sun" had a longer genesis, this isn't a major gap.  We're not talking "When Girls Get Together" sitting in the vaults for ten years, to be resurrected when its creator was a wildly different person.  It's not even as old a recording as the basic track of "How Could We Still Be Dancin", which dates from maybe 4-5 years further back...  if you wanted to be "just sayin'", that'd be a much easier track to be just sayin' about!

Cheers,
Jon Blum

Cheers!

The GIOMH sessions took place in March (mostly), April, May, July & August 2003. The basic track for "GIOMH" itself dates from mid 1998. My point is that the previously recorded songs, quite simply, all sound a helluva lot better than the 2003 sessions. "HCWSBD" was originality recorded just after the Imagination sessions but was completely recut for GIOMH.


Er... no, it didn't. The demos for TLOS were mostly recorded summer 2006 and the project itself arose from a commission from the Royal festival Hall in 2007, where it was performed that September.

My very quick review of the album:

"How Can We Still Be Dancin'?" - Elton John gives it his best, but a pretty weak vocal by BW.  Pretty straight-forward.  Nothing too special.

"Soul  Searchin'" - I prefer the Beach Boys version.  Carl should have stayed on the bridge.  Still this mix is cleaner than the one on Made In California.

"You've Touched Me" - I completely forgot about this one.  How does it go?

"Gettin' In Over My Head" - It's ok.  I never really listen to it.  

"City Blues" - Clapton is one of my favorites but his guitarin' seems a little out of place here.

"Desert Drive" - Another completely forgettable track for me.  

"A Friend Like You" - a tremendous disappointment.  Not that I was expecting a musical nirvana between these two at this stage in their career, but McCartney's efforts seem wasted here.  This is a lightweight song and McCartney doesn't really add much here.  

"Make A Wish" - it's decent.

"Rainbow Eyes" - one of the better tracks on the album.

"Saturday Morning In The City" - Possibly my favorite song on the album.

"Fairy Tale" - Honestly I never really could listen to this song in its entirety.  I don't even remember how it goes.  Just don't care for it.

"Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel" - Pretty good.

"The Waltz" - um, no.  

Overall this is a pretty clunky album.  I was psyched over the guest stars appearing on here but none of the material on this album is particularly strong enough to warrant their presence.  

Cheers, guys! What are we drinking to?